SourceForge DMCA Takedowns

#1

Looks like Jagex is now targeting private server development.

I received two DMCA notices (one for each of my projects) through SourceForge by Jagex today.
SourceForge automatically took down my projects too.

It looks like we might need to start going into private communities/development in order to avoid Jagex and their nuisances.

Here’s the email (yes it’s confidential, but I trust you guys in this private section):

Hello,

My name is Daniel Hinojosa; I am the Sr. Manager of Support for
SourceForge.net. You are receiving this mail because you are the
project administrator of the ‘runeforge’ project, hosted by you on
SourceForge.net. We have recently received the following (attached)
DMCA request from a representative of Jagex Ltd… (CC’d).

When cases like this arise, we forward the mail to the project admin
expeditiously. Please review this message carefully and follow-up as
needed.

Following our DMCA policy, we have disabled public access to your
project.

You can read the specifics about our DMCA compliance in our Terms and
Conditions of Use page: http://p.sf.net/sourceforge/tosdmca

You can read our DMCA policy, including instructions for counter-
notification at: http://apps.sourceforge.net/trac/sitelegal/wiki/DMCA%
20Notification%20Procedure

Thank you for your prompt attention to this serious matter.

Sincerely,

Daniel Hinojosa, SourceForge.net Support
sfnet_ops@geek.net

This email may contain confidential and privileged material for the
sole
use of the intended recipient. Any review or distribution by others
is
strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Copyright Mailbox copyright@jagex.com
Date: Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 2:44 PM
Subject: DMCA Notification - sourceforge.net
To: "sfnet_ops@geek.net" sfnet_ops@geek.net, "dmca@sourceforge.net"
dmca@sourceforge.net, "legal@geek.net" legal@geek.net,
"info@geek.net" info@geek.net

To Whom It May Concern,

Re:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/runesharp/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/spunerace/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/scapeemulator

http://sourceforge.net/projects/runeforge

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openedscape/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/rsdaemon/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/forumscape/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ballin/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/vestaclient/

(“the Programs”, “the Projects”)

I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that I am the owner or am
authorised to act on behalf of the copyright owner. The information in
the notification is accurate. I have good faith to belief that the use
of the material identified below has not been authorised by the owner,
its agents or the law.

I represent Jagex Limited (“Jagex”), developer and publisher of
massively multiplayer online games. Jagex has owned and operated
RuneScape, the well-known online multiplayer adventure game, at the
website www.runescape.com since 2001. There are currently over 5
million active registered players of the game worldwide.

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act we are hereby giving you
notification that;

Jagex Limited (UK registered company number 03982706) is the exclusive
owner of the copyrights in and to the RuneScape massively multiplayer
online game, the associated www.runescape.com website and the text,
artwork, logos and other material appearing therein, except where
otherwise stated.

a) A full and representative list of the RuneScape material can
be viewed at www.runescape.com.

The Programs are being used to circumvent measures that control access
to copyrighted works as set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act with the express intent of enabling users of the Programs to
breach their contracts with Jagex.

a) The Programs are used to emulate the official RuneScape game
client and/or server functionality by circumventing the protective
systems enacted by Jagex Limited.

b) In providing the reverse-engineered and modified RuneScape
clients or the server emulating software the Projects are committing
contributory and vicarious copyright infringement, as well as they are
encouraging others to breach their contract with Jagex Limited, the
terms of which clearly state: “You must not use a modified/customised
version of the client software or attempt to sub-license it. You must
not create or provide any other means by which any Jagex Product may
be played by others (including, without limitation, replacement or
modified client/server software, server emulators).”

c) Development and distribution of the unauthorized versions of
RuneScape or illegitimate means of playing the game, as well as
creation of its duplicates is infringing upon the intellectual
property rights held by Jagex and negatively impacts the amount of
RuneScape’s users, therefore causing us financial loss.

Accordingly, Jagex requires that you act expeditiously to remove, or
disable access to, the Programs listed above, as well as all other
pages containing hypertext links and/or any other means of redirection
to the infringing materials.

Yours sincerely,

Bogdans Stakins
Copyright & Intellectual Property

Jagex Ltd.

St. Johns Innovation Centre

Cowley Road

Cambridge

United Kingdom

CB4 0WS

copyright@jagex.com

0844 588 6689

www.jagex.com | www.runescape.com

–

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The sender does not guarantee that this message, including any
attachment, is secure or virus free. Also, it is confidential and may
be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not
the intended recipient, do not disclose or copy it or its contents.
Please telephone or email the sender and delete the message entirely
from your system.

Jagex Limited is a company registered in England & Wales with company
number 03982706 and a registered office at St John’s Innovation
Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, UK.

I don’t even think it’s illegal to develop an emulator in the first place, but I sure as hell can’t afford to go to court and defend my right to develop open-source.

Post your thoughts.

#2

I thought it would be obvious that sites such as sourceforge needed to be avoided. :expressionless:

#3

[quote=“Lothy, post:2, topic:333042”]I thought it would be obvious that sites such as sourceforge needed to be avoided. :|[/quote]How come?

#4

if you just have the server and not client on sourceforge, reply and try and fight it just to piss jagex off.

#5

[quote=“blakeman8192, post:3, topic:333042”][quote author=Lothy link=topic=429464.msg3153525#msg3153525 date=1268785173]
I thought it would be obvious that sites such as sourceforge needed to be avoided. :expressionless:
[/quote]How come?[/quote]
Because it’s in sourceforge’s best interest to avoid confrontation with any company, even if you may be in the clear based on a technicality of some sort.

#6

I wouldn’t mind hosting server projects using something like GIT, think anyone would be interested?

#7

[quote=“Moparisthebest, post:6, topic:333042”]I wouldn’t mind hosting server projects using something like GIT, think anyone would be interested?[/quote]How about SVN?
I’d be very interested.

Also, why didn’t you reply to my PM about the server competition? :S

#8

Once you try GIT you just can’t downgrade to SVN, that’s what I discovered anyhow.

edit: Did you send me a PM recently? The latest one I found from you is October and I responded. :confused:

#9

just use a git and svn repo and have them mirror eachother

#10

Meh, then I also have to set up SVN, which is 9000x more painful then just setting up git.

#11

Project hosting using git would be great. I’m currently using assembla to host Hyperion but I think Jagex will probably contact just like SF eventually and they’ll probably just take it down immediately as SF did.

#12

I can do that, although I doubt it will get popular enough for me to bother setting up a script for signing up and such. So I will probably just handle it all manually with requests through PM. I’ll post on here when I get it set up, it may be a day or two. Definitely not today. :slight_smile:

#13

[quote=“Moparisthebest, post:12, topic:333042”][quote author=Graham link=topic=429464.msg3170193#msg3170193 date=1270365436]
Project hosting using git would be great. I’m currently using assembla to host Hyperion but I think Jagex will probably contact just like SF eventually and they’ll probably just take it down immediately as SF did.
[/quote]

I can do that, although I doubt it will get popular enough for me to bother setting up a script for signing up and such. So I will probably just handle it all manually with requests through PM. I’ll post on here when I get it set up, it may be a day or two. Definitely not today. :)[/quote]

Okay, thanks.