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jessaustin parent
...there will be less, not more, that a lawyer can do for you.

At this point in time, OP can take down the repo (but not the 115-and-counting forks thereof), or modify it (someone suggested removing keys issued by Snapchat), or not. How will this set of options change if Snapchat file suit? Of course one must respond to a suit, but couldn't one's response be "ok we've complied with all requests"?

If you're telling me that the suit could allege OP owes Snapchat money for his/her misdeeds, that's true, but it's always true, even after one complies with the sort of namby-pamby "C&D" we see here.


jamesaguilar
If Snapchat files suit, all of the options that might have avoided a lawsuit are now off-limits. Assuming that's a non-empty set, a strict subset of the choices currently available will be available at that point in time.
rhizome
Snapchat will not have all of the options available to them until they send a valid C&D.
dragonwriter
C&D's are usually courtesies to avoid prosecution, rather than legally required. (DMCA takedown notices have particular effect with regard to safe harbor, which -- because the DMCA is involved -- may be what you are thinking of, but this isn't a safe harbor issue; it would be if they were trying to get github to take it down, but that's not what is going on here.)
jessaustin OP
Which specific aspect of this package constitutes an "unlawful circumvention device"? If the Snaphax class instantiated a different low-level class from SnaphaxApi, that was written to a slightly different API, would it still circumvent? If so, why must the entire package be taken down? If the code here was used but pointed at a proxy, would the distribution of code itself still have limited commercial purpose and be designed or produced primarily for the purpose of circumvention? The actual USC section (Schaffer has the wrong subsub: it's (a)(2) (and maybe (b)(1)) not (a)(1) that governs "traffic in any... device") refers extensively to copyrighted works: what copyrighted works are referenced here? Do Snapchat claim copyright in their users' images? If not, what do they mean here?

Without specific answers to many of the foregoing questions, this message amounts to asking OP to forego all use and value of work that OP has personally performed, merely on Snapchat's say-so. So, actual meritorious C&D's require some actual work on the part of the sender. This letter took some knucklehead five minutes, so that's about what it's worth.

C&D's are usually courtesies to avoid...

...the expense of an actual lawsuit. In many cases a vague and overbroad (see above) message is mere bullying, attempting to imply threats that would be impossible to articulate or enforce. Papers filed in a court are held to a higher standard, and penalties are enforced. The fact that OP might be well-advised to retain counsel in response to this turd is an indictment of the USA legal system.

jamesaguilar
I don't think that is true. Plenty of companies are sued without notice for patent infringement. It's not generally the case that you have to notify the parties to a suit before initiating it.
icebraining
Is that true? I thought it only applied to suing ISP if they failed to preserve their safe harbor status.

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