I love this story, it’s covered in such sweet irony, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has been caught violating the license on some free software they had/have (the site it currently down) been using for one of their blogs/forums.
The software, Forest Blog, created by Patrick Robinson, requires that any backlinks in the software (i.e. links back to his site) be left in tact unless special dispensation has been given, and Patrick stumbled across one of the sub-sites on the MPAA site was using his code with them!
So, the organisation fighting hard to protect copyright (so they say) and suing people over it, is themselves breaking copyright. To be fair, they probably didn’t know it, they probably hired a web design company to provide it and they thought they’d cut corners and no one would notice, boy did that backfire. Patrick, unfortunately, has decided not to hire a lawyer and pursue them, although the MPAA has yet to respond to his email. Personally, I think he should. Firstly, it would be great publicity for him and his software even if he didn’t win and, secondly, it’s bring attention to the stupidity of what the MPAA is actually defending (which is profit margins at the expense of legitimate customers, because they sure as hell aren’t stopping the pirates).
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