shared-mime-info DMCA takedown request https://github.zendesk.com/attachments/token/eTJTaIjPp5pqbcAldaowe2N4E/?name=2021-03-22-freedesktop.rtf

shared-mime-info DMCA.md

This is a notice received and originally from https://github.zendesk.com/attachments/token/eTJTaIjPp5pqbcAldaowe2N4E/?name=2021-03-22-freedesktop.rtf

Are you the copyright holder or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf?

Yes, I am the copyright holder.

Please describe the nature of your copyright ownership or authorization to act on the owner's behalf.

I'm [private] of the software that some code was taken from, and [private] of it for more than 15 years.

Please provide a detailed description of the original copyrighted work that has allegedly been infringed. If possible, include a URL to where it is posted online.

The shared-mime-info package contains:

• The core database of common MIME types, their file extensions and icon names.
• The update-mime-database command, used to extend the DB and install a new MIME data.
• The freedesktop.org shared MIME database spec.

The core database was copied wholesale:
[private]
with translations merged:
[private]

What files should be taken down? Please provide URLs for each file, or if the entire repository, the repository’s URL.

https://github.com/zRedShift/mimemagic/blob/master/cmd/parser/freedesktop.org.xml
https://github.com/13521900025/mimemagic/blob/master/cmd/parser/freedesktop.org.xml
https://github.com/backwardn/mimemagic/blob/master/cmd/parser/freedesktop.org.xml
https://github.com/brandfolder/mimemagic/blob/master/cmd/parser/freedesktop.org.xml
https://github.com/developgo/mimemagic/blob/master/cmd/parser/freedesktop.org.xml
https://github.com/Kycklingar/mimemagic/blob/master/cmd/parser/freedesktop.org.xml
https://github.com/pombredanne/mimemagic/blob/master/cmd/parser/freedesktop.org.xml
https://github.com/simplesurance/mimemagic/blob/master/cmd/parser/freedesktop.org.xml

Have you searched for any forks of the allegedly infringing files or repositories? Each fork is a distinct repository and must be identified separately if you believe it is infringing and wish to have it taken down.

Yes.

Is the work licensed under an open source license? If so, which open source license? Are the allegedly infringing files being used under the open source license, or are they in violation of the license?

Is the work licensed under an open source license?

Yes.

If so, which open source license?

The GNU General Public License v2 or later:
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg/shared-mime-info/-/blob/master/COPYING

Are the allegedly infringing files being used under the open source license, or are they in violation of the license?

They're using the file under an MIT license which is not compatible with the GNU GPL v2 or later.

What would be the best solution for the alleged infringement? Are there specific changes the other person can make other than removal? Can the repository be made private?

Relicense the project under a license compatible with the GNU GPL v2 or later, or remove it.

Do you have the alleged infringer’s contact information? If so, please provide it.

No.

I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law.

I have taken fair use into consideration.

I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

I have read and understand GitHub's Guide to Submitting a DMCA Takedown Notice.

So that we can get back to you, please provide either your telephone number or physical address.

[private]
[private]
[private]
[private]

Please type your full legal name below to sign this request.

[private]

On the Ruby side, following mimemagicrb/mimemagic#97 which was worded the same way as this DMCA takedown but was not yet a DMCA action @jellybob and @minad 's https://github.com/mimemagicrb/mimemagic/ was briefly relicensed under the GPL and all past versions and tags yanked then eventually was rewritten to remove all generated parts and relicensed under the MIT to read a system-installed mime database after having created quite a stir for downstream users, including major ones such as Rails and all Rails users.

More related issues created by @hadess which I am not sure I always understand:

• https://github.com/sharethatto-brian/mimehack/issues/1
• eslamodeh/mimemagic#1
• https://github.com/sharethatto-brian/mimehack/issues/1
• gedhean/mimemagic#2
• https://github.com/nac13k/mimemagic/ which has been taken down

They have this typical content I guess asking for repository removal.

Remove repo #1
Hey,

I know you're just trying to get your Ruby on Rails stuff working, but if old
versions of a repo were removed because their license is incorrect, the right
way to fix this isn't to reupload stuff that was using the wrong license.

The upstream discussion:
rails/rails#41750

And more takedown requests impacting other places:

• KON-ch/ActorConnection#41

Remove mimemagic 0.3.6 The license listed is invalid in: https://github.com/KON-ch/ActorConnection/tree/master/vendor/cache/ruby/3.0.0/gems/mimemagic-0.3.6
Please refer to: rails/rails#41750

• sanger/sequencescape#3127

• clientrock/mimemagic#1 and on gitlab https://gitlab.com/clientrock/mimemagic/-/issues/1

I've historically been the maintainer of shared-mime-info for around 15 years, and script/freedesktop.org.xml looks like it's a copy of the database shipped with shared-mime-info, which is released under the GPL, with shared-mime-info's translators work merged in, and the GPL header removed.
The license that you're shipping mimemagic under (MIT) isn't compatible with shared-mime-info's.
There are a number of possibilities to fix this problem:

change the mimemagic license to be GPL compatible
parse the XML file that shared-mime-info ships at runtime, and don't ship it in a codebase with an incompatible license

Using a GPL file as a source makes your whole codebase a derived work, making it all GPL, so I think it's pretty important that this problem gets corrected before somebody uses it in a pure MIT codebase, or a closed-source application.

You will also need to re-add the GPL header to the shared-mime-info XML file as a matter of urgency. It was stripped in release tarballs by the tool used to merge translations, but is visible in the .in version of the same file.

And some also contain DMCA takedown threats:
gedhean/mimemagic#2 (comment)

hadess commented 15 minutes ago
Thanks for the advice, @hadess. I'll remove the repo soon.

Please fix it now, otherwise I'll have to file a DMCA takedown request, and it's more work for me, and more hassle for you.

There is quite a bit of twitter chatter about the impact of the actions listed here in the Rails world https://twitter.com/search?q=mimemagic&src=typed_query

And some interesting article (translated from German by Google translate): https://www.heise.de/news/Ruby-on-Rails-Durch-Lizenzproblem-entfallene-Library-erzeugt-Dominoeffekt-5999197.html

Ruby on Rails: Library lost due to license problem creates domino effect
Half a million open source projects are likely to be affected by the chaos caused by a library that was initially incorrectly licensed and then withdrawn.

In the middle of this week, Bastien Nocera, the maintainer of an open source software library called shared-mime-infothe maintainer of the Ruby library, mimemagichad notified that mimemagicthe wrong license was being used. Noceras Library is registered under the GPLv2 license, and projects based on it would have to use the same license. The Ruby library, however, was registered with the MIT license. The discovery might have been a side note, but the licensing problem has sparked a chain reaction that now affects around 500,000 open source projects.

And an interesting article by @cseeman https://dev.to/cseeman/what-s-up-with-mimemagic-breaking-everything-he1

And some weird twists: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26571086

In a twist of irony, the software for which the copyright claim breaking rails was made is hosted on the free edition of gitlab, which is based on rails.

and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26573161

And according to the twitter-bio of the individual, who brought this up, he's related to Red Hat, which are also affected [^1].
[^1]RedHatInsights/compliance-backend#79...