Thursday, September 8, 2011

Android Tricorder Killed By CBS

The summary includes a link to the wiki article about it being killed by lawyers. This in turn includes the text of the DMCA takedown notice. Take a look:

lxxxxxxn@cbs.com to support-portal@google.com
Reply - More info Aug 23
Options

AutoDetectedBrowser: Internet Explorer 7
AutoDetectedOS: Windows XP
IIILanguage: en
IssueType: lr_dmca
Language: en
agree1: checked
agree: checked
android_app_developer_1: Moonblink
android_app_name_1: Tricorder
android_app_url_1: https://market.android.com/details?id=org.hermit.tricorder [android.com]
companyname: CBS
country_residence: US
description_of_copyrighted_work: LCARS graphical user interface
dmca_signature: Lxxxxxxn
dmca_signature_date_day: 23
dmca_signature_date_month: 8
dmca_signature_date_year: 2011
full_name: Lxxxxxxn
hidden_product: androidmarket
location_of_copyrighted_work: LCARS graphical user interface, an example of which can be viewed at the URL below: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-trek-padd/id446277240?mt=8 [apple.com] represented_copyright_holder: CBS Studios Inc.

Now, I used to have an app on my Palm PDA that pretended to be a tricorder but didn't actually do anything (other than make some chirp noises and display various jokes). That's not what this is; this "tricorder" app displays the outputs from various sensors on an Android phone. You can get a magnetic compass, sound data from the microphone, GPS data, etc. The DMCA takedown isn't about this functionality, but just about the LCARS interface.

The solution is obvious: reskin the app, using an Android sort of theme, and for extra safety change the name. The result shouldn't bother CBS anymore.

I don't even really like LCARS much.

P.S. I presume that CBS will go after the people who install LCARS themes on their desktops. What a waste of time.

steveha


View the original article here

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