On October 11, 2023, we were informed that an open-source contributor received a cease and desist letter from Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) regarding his library to connect with Mazda services. This library was used by the Home Assistant integration Mazda Connected Services, which he also maintained. A DMCA notice was sent to GitHub requesting the removal of all code and forked repositories as well.
The contributor has complied with the cease and desist letter. The library is no longer available, and the Mazda Connected Services integration has been removed from Home Assistant in the 2023.10.2 patch release of Home Assistant released on October 12, 2023.
Home Assistant is disappointed that Mazda has decided to take this position. We’re also sad that Mazda’s first recourse was not to reach out to us and the maintainer but to send a cease and desist letter instead.
We invite Mazda to speak with us about this topic. We would love to have an open and constructive discussion about the potential that a Home Assistant integration has for them and their customers. We genuinely believe there is a common ground between us and Mazda when it comes to enabling the owners of their cars to explore the possibilities of their own data.
After all, other car manufacturers do see this potential. For example, Tesla has recently released official API documentation to support third-party apps. Volkswagen Group’s Audi brand has launched an app store in their cars that features the Home Assistant app. We hope Mazda will see this potential, as well.
I don’t have a Mazda (because I don’t need another car at the moment), but they’re one of my first choices when someone asks what car they should look at, so this is frustrating to hear. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like they’re trying to apply DMCA to the use of APIs which is a unique take. Is the code maintainer planning to fight the DMCA notice? It seems like GitHub makes this pretty easy and then it falls back on Mazda for proof.
Feel free to do the same and send a complaint to your Mazda dealership/representation.
In the MyMazda app you can find the contact email address.
I don’t really get what is their point with the DMCA. What value do they add to their customers with this action? And of course, why Github redacted all the names in the DMCA application, when it would be important regards any complaint towards Mazda to know who had this great idea when it comes to responsibility of damaging the Mazda brand.
I was actually considering a car to replace my older commuter. Mazda is now off my list. Seriously doubt this issue will be resolved before my next purchase.
Sure, a HA user is not a large percentage of their customers, but it’s still a shame.
Breeze is correct. You need to seek legal advice immediately, because reverse engineering is completely and entirely legal. Their DMCA notice does not claim that you copied their code (which is copyrightable), but rather that your software performs the same function (which is not copyrightable). This is a fraudulent takedown request. You can dispute the takedown and they won’t have a shot in court based on their claims in the takedown request. (IANAL obviously)
This is a blatantly bad-faith move on Mazda’s part (they have the lawyers to tell them this isn’t a copyright violation, they’re either too dumb or too malicious to ask them) and it’s extremely unfortunate that the DMCA does not contain any provision for punishing actors who use it in bad faith.
Take a break, pause you 30s and take the developer place.
Now what will you do? Of course you will close you repo.
I didn’t say it’s not abused from Mazda but it’s what everyone will do.
Now I also think it’s what nabu casa exist for.
The code of this integration should be integrated directly in ha by nabu casa.
Please that’s also why we support you. You are the only one that can do that sort of fight. One single person behide is screen with a family and a life that code for fun is not armed for this.
Very disappointed in Mazda…the official Mazda app takes way too long to open and start the vehicle. This API was the perfect solution, and I could even start my vehicle with my voice! So silly to lock it down…
Legal advice and court claims have a cost. HA is a free opensource environment, it’s ironic we expect each developer to have more of a financial stake than just a passion for code development and HA as a whole. Faced with the financial penalties, even if not morally and legally correct, I can understand complying with take down orders.
I drive a CX60 and I use multiple methods to optimise the charging, make sure it’s my car plugged into the charger before switching it on and finally to alert me that the boot is open when it magically seems to do so.
Or, you should but the code from the developer and develop it yourself.
