Google shut downs linux video player after DMCA complaint

It looks that not only owners of torrent sites face with DMCA complaints. When it comes to money, theres no real friend, not even Google: In response to a copyright complaint, Google has taken down an open-source project called CoreAVC-for-Linux it had hosted on its Web site. Google didnt share details, but said on the project site that it removed CoreAVC-for-Linux from its Google Code site after receiving a complaint under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). CoreAVC itself is proprietary software for Windows supplied by a company called CoreCodec. The software can play video encoded with the H.264 standard.

According to a cached version of the Google Code page, CoreAVC-for-Linux provides patches to open-source media player software such as MPlayer or MythTV that enable them to use the CoreAVC software on Linux. In other words, its for programs that connect to the CoreAVC software but doesnt actually include CoreAVC itself. Its not yet clear who filed the DMCA complaint. The DMCAs Safe Harbor provision protects a Web site from liability for users actions as long as the sites operatorin this case Googlefulfills requirements such as removing infringing material once notified by rights holders. CoreCodec appears to be a company thats got some involvement with the opens-source programming philosophy. According to the CoreCodec Web site, Our philosophy is to (use) open source when appropriate, and when we do choose to close source a product, we strive to open as much of it as possible for third-party access.