[Infowarrior] - MPAA ¹ s University Toolkit hit with DMCA takedown notice

[Richard Forno]

MPAA¹s University Toolkit hit with DMCA takedown notice after GPL violation

By Ryan Paul | Published: December 04, 2007 - 08:35AM CT

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071204-mpaas-university-toolkit-hit-w
ith-dmca-takedown-notice-after-gpl-violation.html

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) recently released a
software toolkit designed to help universities detect instances of
potentially illegal file-sharing on school networks. The toolkit is based on
the increasingly popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and includes the Apache
web server as well as custom traffic monitoring software created by the
MPAA. Although the toolkit was previously available from a web site set up
by the MPAA, the software was removed last night after the organization
received a request from Ubuntu technical board member Matthew Garret to take
it down due to GPL violations.

Many of the components in the Ubuntu Linux distribution, including the Linux
kernel, are distributed under the General Public License (GPL). The GPL is
an open-source software license that broadly permits modification and
redistribution of software but requires distributors to make the source code
available to third parties and publish their changes. Licenses like the GPL,
which require distributors to make source code available, are referred to as
copyleft licenses. Distributing software licensed under the GPL in binary
format without making source code available to end users is a violation of
the GPL and constitutes copyright infringement.

According to Garret, several attempts were made to contact the MPAA before a
takedown notice was sent directly to the ISP. "MPAA don't f*** with my
s***," wrote Garret in a blog entry. "I did attempt to contact them by
e-mail and phone before resorting to the more obnoxious behavior of
contacting the ISP."

Seth Oster, executive VP and chief communications officer of the MPAA, told
Ars that the notice came over the Thanksgiving holiday when their offices
were closed. "As soon as we came back and discovered that there had been
someone who had raised some concerns, we removed the software," Oster said.
"Anytime anyone raises any reasonable concern we look at it because we take
copyright very seriously at the MPAA." He also denied Garret's assertions
that the ISP was involved in the takedown, saying that the MPAA chose to
take the toolkit offline.

Although the MPAA's failure to comply with copyright law in this case is a
delicious irony, it won't permanently prevent distribution of the antipiracy
software toolkit. Oster told Ars that the MPAA would make sure that it fully
complied with the GPL, and that the software would be available once again
in "short order." The most straightforward way to resolve the problem would
be to post a notice next to the download link that provides contact
information and affirms willingness to provide the source code upon request.

As we noted in our recent coverage of the now-resolved Asus Eee GPL
infringement controversy, GPL violations are generally the result of
negligence or misunderstandings rather than willful intent to misappropriate
intellectual property. When companies distribute products in violation of
the GPL, they often remedy the problem as soon as they are informed of the
legal implications, which is why GPL infringement lawsuits are very rare.

The MPAA, which has consistently lobbied Congress for stricter penalties on
copyright infringement, will likely take some much-deserved heat for this
embarrassing gaffe.