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by maxerickson 972 days ago
What's it look like? The next step to fight this is for the user of the Github service to file a counter notice and wait to see if Mazda files a copyright infringement lawsuit against them.

It probably doesn't make sense for Github to indemnify them, and short of that, there's not really a lot of convincing they can do if someone isn't interested in engaging in litigation with some huge company.
1 comments
prepend 972 days ago
They could auto file a counter notice. They could provide free legal council to help the user file. They could route to EFF or others to file counter notices.

They could even sue for damages from false claims since API can’t be copyrighted.

There’s tons they could do. Microsoft has immense resources and far greater than Mazda.

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maxerickson 972 days ago
They don't have standing to auto file a counter notice. And then if someone accidentally publishes something copyrighted to github, they probably don't want to go through a lawsuit.

I looked at the code some, there are some app secrets stored and used, so they probably have at least a thin claim.

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prepend 972 days ago
They can certainly evaluate the request and deem it spurious, as long as they are willing to defend their decision.

They can also autogenerate the counter claim so an author just needs to click “dispute.”

I’m sure there are lots of valid dmca complaints against GitHub repos, like any site that allows hosting random files. But I think if GitHub wants to encourage programming, they need to invest and be more proactive in supporting programmers from people like the jerk lawyer at Mazda (or probably some stupid “ip protection” consultant) who filed this spurious seeming complaint.

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