Mediatek claims to own copyright on the Linux Kernel

b/Tech, Science & IT publicado por u/gameblabla June 07, 2018, 02:31:00 PM

Mediatek claims to own copyright on the Linux Kernel

Look at what i've found :
https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2018/2018-04-24-MediaTek.md

Someone from Mediatek issued a DMCA claim to some github repositories.
They claim in the DMCA latter this :
Is the work licensed under an open source license?...Are the allegedly infringing files being used under the open source license, or are they in violation of the license?
Mediatek : No, all are Mediatek's proprietary

They also claim this :
Mediatek : 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.

Upon looking at the "infringing" repositories however, you can see that two of them are... the source code to the Linux kernel ! (Especially version 3.10.61)
The linux kernel is licensed under the GPLv2 and any modifications to it must be shared to the public and under the same license.
It does not grant you rights to the linux and re-license it at will.

In effect, not only Mediatek infringed on it, they also claim to own the whole linux kernel !
~~I've tweeted Mediatek about it and i'm now awaiting an answer from them.~~
EDIT: I've removed the tweet and decided to contact the Software Freedom Conservacy about it instead.

To be fair, violation of the Linux's license is commonplace... It really became infamous in the Android world. However, this really takes it to the next level...
What do you think about it ?

Last Edit: June 07, 2018, 03:39:32 PM by gameblabla

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u/Yuki June 07, 2018, 06:47:02 PM

Oh, interesting, GPL violations. Have you contacted GitHub too?

u/gameblabla June 07, 2018, 06:48:24 PM

Quote from: Juju on June 07, 2018, 06:47:02 PM
Oh, interesting, GPL violations. Have you contacted GitHub too?

Nah, because they clearly showed that they weren't interested in solving anything. Proof is that they don't even do a quick check of the affected repositories.
EDIT: In case you still don't believe me...
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5JpYrD57Kp0J:https://github.com/jawad6233/MT6795.kernel/blob/master/alps/kernel-3.10/build.sh+&cd=3&ct=clnk

I've found a cache of the "infringing" repository. It has the exact same structure of that live repo :
https://github.com/Xmister/MediaTek-HelioX10-Kernel

Which is, again, a copy of the Linux kernel.

Last Edit: June 07, 2018, 06:55:44 PM by gameblabla

u/Yuki June 08, 2018, 05:15:05 AM

Oh yeah I believe you. Looks like they missed some, though. Is this one supposed to be GPL too?

But yeah, GitHub processes a ton of DMCAs a day and it's possible they miss some they hope someone would give out a counterclaim, so I guess it's worth it to try.

On that, the US copyright law should probably be updated if it allows things like that to happen...

u/gameblabla June 08, 2018, 08:02:35 PM

Quote from: Juju on June 08, 2018, 05:15:05 AM
Oh yeah I believe you. Looks like they missed some, though. Is this one supposed to be GPL too?

Nope, they look like userspace drivers so it's most likely not covered by the GPL, unless they use GPL functions.
I admit i haven't looked at that yet... There's even a GPS driver in there, even though most of them are not free/libre.

I'm still waiting on an answer from them.