GitHub has blocked the repository containing the official documentation for the SymPy project and the website docs.sympy.org hosted on GitHub servers after receiving a complaint about copyright infringement from HackerRank, a company specializing in hosting competitions for developers and hiring programmers. The blockade was made under the existing DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) in the United States.
After community outrage, HackerRank withdrew the complaint and acknowledged that the copyright infringement claim was filed by mistake. GitHub lifted the blockade from the SymPy repository and website. To prevent similar mistakes in the future, the head of HackerRank announced the suspension of the DMCA complaint process until the rules for determining infringements are reviewed. As compensation, HackerRank intends to donate $25,000 to the SymPy project.
The SymPy project develops a Python library for computer algebra to perform symbolic computations and apply discrete mathematics methods, popular among scientists, researchers, and students. HackerRank's claims were centered around allegations of borrowing materials from the company's tests found on one of the pages of the SymPy documentation.
The story is interesting because, apparently, employees of HackerRank once used excerpts from the official documentation of SymPy in their tests. To combat copyright infringements online, HackerRank hired WorthIT Solutions agency, whose representatives conducted a raid to identify instances of material borrowing from HackerRank, found overlaps, and without thorough investigation, filed a copyright infringement complaint against the SymPy website where the documentation used for creating tests was hosted.
Notably, this is not the first case; HackerRank has previously been caught sending inaccurate complaints. For instance, PHP developers received a copyright infringement complaint in January regarding the page describing the range() function on php.net. Before this, over 40 repositories had been blocked due to similar allegations.
Source: opennet.ru
