5 ms·

I just can’t understand the point of the DMCA takedown here. This software is very dead and abandoned at this point, and the only thing bearing its name is vapo

by jchw 5y ago

I just can’t understand the point of the DMCA takedown here. This software is very dead and abandoned at this point, and the only thing bearing its name is vaporware that appears to be so distant from the original as to effectively not even compete with it. Of course, the copyright holders have every legal right to do so. But doesn’t it seem pointless? This codebase probably has more historical interest than commercial by now. Am I missing something?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
omega3 5y ago
Not a lawyer but I guess it relates to a possibility of a loss of a trademark by failure to police.
- jchw 5y ago
  DMCA is a copyright claim, not trademark. Also, the idea that a single instance of failing to enforce a mark would constitute trademark abandonment is disputed[1]. It certainly seems far-fetched given the general bias laws have towards the rights of corporations, not to mention extremely convenient for legal teams. [1]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not-require-companies-tirelessly-censor-internet https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not...
tediousdemise 5y ago
Seems pretty pointless to me, too. I'll make the assumption that the founders have zero financial interest in Winamp. What's the point of exerting IP rights if you have nothing to gain financially... is it pride? A latent desire to stagnate innovation? Making other peoples' lives harder because yours was too? Who knows?
leros 5y ago
It's very likely about the brand and trademarks. The WinAmp software is dead, but the brand is alive and there is a company trying to build something under it.
- brutal_chaos_ 5y ago
  Brand loyalty/trust is gone and companies wonder why... (Slight tangent; I believe Mozilla are tarnishing the Firefox name this way as well with firefox branded this and that.)
phendrenad2 5y ago
How do we know the DMCA takedown even came from the rightsholder? It's trivial to pretend to own something, and companies aren't really obligated to verify the authenticity of takedown requests.
- jchw 5y ago
  Well, it’s impossible to be 100% certain, but the claim itself was posted publicly. https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2021/07/2021-07-02-winamp.md https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2021/07/2021-07-0...
adamnemecek 5y ago
I believe that this is a new version of Winamp, there have been some talks about a relaunch https://www.extremetech.com/computing/329258-winamp-prepares-to-relaunch-can-it-still-whip-the-llama-in-2021 https://www.extremetech.com/computing/329258-winamp-prepares... Considering there are some references to cloud https://web.archive.org/web/20210418220750/https://github.com/CONIGUERO/winamp/tree/main/pmp_cloud_demo https://web.archive.org/web/20210418220750/https://github.co... I'm going to go ahead and guess that it's new.

by jchw 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

omega3 5y ago

Not a lawyer but I guess it relates to a possibility of a loss of a trademark by failure to police.

jchw 5y ago
DMCA is a copyright claim, not trademark. Also, the idea that a single instance of failing to enforce a mark would constitute trademark abandonment is disputed[1]. It certainly seems far-fetched given the general bias laws have towards the rights of corporations, not to mention extremely convenient for legal teams. [1]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not-require-companies-tirelessly-censor-internet https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not...

tediousdemise 5y ago

Seems pretty pointless to me, too. I'll make the assumption that the founders have zero financial interest in Winamp. What's the point of exerting IP rights if you have nothing to gain financially... is it pride? A latent desire to stagnate innovation? Making other peoples' lives harder because yours was too? Who knows?

leros 5y ago

It's very likely about the brand and trademarks. The WinAmp software is dead, but the brand is alive and there is a company trying to build something under it.

brutal_chaos_ 5y ago
Brand loyalty/trust is gone and companies wonder why... (Slight tangent; I believe Mozilla are tarnishing the Firefox name this way as well with firefox branded this and that.)

phendrenad2 5y ago

How do we know the DMCA takedown even came from the rightsholder? It's trivial to pretend to own something, and companies aren't really obligated to verify the authenticity of takedown requests.

jchw 5y ago
Well, it’s impossible to be 100% certain, but the claim itself was posted publicly. https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2021/07/2021-07-02-winamp.md https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2021/07/2021-07-0...

adamnemecek 5y ago

I believe that this is a new version of Winamp, there have been some talks about a relaunch https://www.extremetech.com/computing/329258-winamp-prepares-to-relaunch-can-it-still-whip-the-llama-in-2021 https://www.extremetech.com/computing/329258-winamp-prepares... Considering there are some references to cloud https://web.archive.org/web/20210418220750/https://github.com/CONIGUERO/winamp/tree/main/pmp_cloud_demo https://web.archive.org/web/20210418220750/https://github.co... I'm going to go ahead and guess that it's new.