FFmpeg has issued a DMCA takedown on GitHub (twitter.com)

Article summary

FFmpeg has issued a DMCA takedown notice on GitHub against a repository owned by IloveRockchip, a Chinese company, for copying thousands of lines of code from FFmpeg and relicensing it under the Apache 2.0 license. The repository has been taken down by GitHub. The issue has been ongoing for nearly two years, with FFmpeg developers claiming that IloveRockchip violated the LGPL license. The takedown notice lists specific files that were copied from FFmpeg and had their copyright notices removed.

Main themes

• LGPL license violation
• DMCA takedown notice
• Open-source licensing
• Copyright infringement
• GitHub repository removal

What commenters say

• The DMCA takedown was justified as IloveRockchip had been given ample warning and failed to comply with the LGPL license.
• The takedown may have been too harsh, as it resulted in the loss of potentially useful code and damaged the relationship between FFmpeg and IloveRockchip.
• IloveRockchip's actions were a clear violation of the LGPL license, and the DMCA takedown was necessary to protect FFmpeg's intellectual property.
• The LGPL license allows for dynamic linking, but does not permit relicensing of the code under a different license, such as Apache 2.0.
• The DMCA process is flawed, as it allows for takedowns without verifying the validity of the claim, and can be used to silence critics or stifle innovation.
• The open-source community should be more aggressive in enforcing its licenses and protecting its intellectual property, rather than being too lenient and allowing violations to go unpunished.