Music Industry Gets YouTube Sound Piracy Suit Revived (1)

Twelve music labels convinced the Fourth Circuit that Virginia has personal jurisdiction over the Russian owner of websites that allegedly circumvent YouTube’s anti-piracy tools to extract sound recordings.

Tofig Kurbanov, who operates flvto.biz and 2conv.com from Russia, sold advertising space and facilitated ads specifically targeting Virginians, so he was engaged in commercial activity in the state, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said in a precedential decision.

The ruling shows how the internet has forced courts to reckon with new jurisdictional questions, and that the lack of an exchange of money with U.S. residents doesn’t necessarily preclude ...