cease and desist

[kenany]

From: Glen [private] <[private]@gosugamers.net>
To: kenan@kenany.me
Cc: [private]@gosugamers.net
Subject: Cease and Desist
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2015 12:08:03 +0200

Hi Kenan,

Scraping content from GosuGamers is against the Terms of Service. Please 
refer to http://www.gosugamers.net/terms.

We kindly ask that you cease and desist with immediate effect by 
removing the relevant projects as listed below.

Relevant projects:
     - https://github.com/KenanY/gosugamers-match (and 
https://www.npmjs.com/package/gosugamers-match)
     - https://github.com/KenanY/gosugamers-matches (and 
https://www.npmjs.com/package/gosugamers-matches)

Should you not comply within 7 days, we will have no option but to take 
further action.

Sincerely,

-- 

Glen [private]
Web Developer
[private]
[private]@gosugamers.net <mailto:[private]@gosugamers.net>
www.gosugamers.net <http://www.gosugamers.net/>   | www.gosumedia.net 
<http://www.gosumedia.net/>

Relevant clause from the terms of service:

[...] you may not:

[...]

• transfer the materials to another person or duplicate the materials on another server (manually or via web scraping or similar data mining techniques)

The bit in parenthesis must have been added recently, since it was not in the terms back on 2015-07-02.

These projects are admittedly just tools to perform such transferring. I am not actually hosting duplicates of the material on github.com/npmjs.com, so why should I have to remove this project from github.com/npmjs.com?

[the-lay]

Oh wow, that's kinda dick-ish move to send cease and desist. I agree that it's just a tool for data mining, not the materials themselves. Try to ask people over on reddit, like /r/legaladvice?

[kenany]

I think it is now safe to say we "survived" this, seeing as how no "further action" has been performed as far as we are aware.

My reply (composed/sent 2015-09-07) to the original email is reproduced below. I was gonna wait for a response before posting it but looks like there isn't going to be a response.

Subject: Re: Cease and Desist
To: Glen [private] <[private]@gosugamers.net>
From: Kenan Yildirim <kenan@kenany.me>
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 18:36:39 -0400

Hello Glen,

Sorry it has taken so long for me to compose a reply. I am hoping that 
you can clarify what content within those GitHub repositories (or the 
npm registry) infringes on the Terms of Service.

While I understand that scraping your website is disallowed, and I also 
admit that both of the tools you have linked to are scrapers of your 
site, it is my understanding from reading your Terms of Service that you 
should be contacting the users of the tools themselves. I am not hosting 
any intellectual property of GosuGamers within those GitHub repositories 
nor the npm registry. So, I do believe that this clause does not apply here:

 > transfer the materials to another person or duplicate the materials 
on another server

I also admit to being a user of the two tools in the past, As such, you 
are free to terminate my license to use GosuGamers for 
personal/non-commercial use, as per your Terms:

 > This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of 
these restrictions and may be terminated by GosuGamers at any time. Upon 
termination of license, you must destroy any aquired materials in your 
possession whether in electronical or physical format.

However, I will not remove anything from GitHub's/npm's servers until it 
is demonstrated what content specifically do you believe I have acquired 
from your service.

Regards,

--

Kenan Yildirim