HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/06/...ributing-roms/

Leaks happen — especially in the mobile world. There are just too many people involved in the process of creating a mobile device to keep things under wraps. Take any given new phone’s OS installation package (known as its “ROM”), for example; when something is as easily copied and distributed as any other piece of software, it’s bound to find its way out eventually.

When these ROMs pop up on developer/hacker forums, it’s generally no big deal — in most cases, the manufacturer doesn’t notice or, if they do, don’t bother to do anything about it. Once someone makes an effort to gather up all these ROMs and distribute them from one unified outlet, however, things get hairy. Such is the case for the popular HTC ROM distribution site Shipped-ROMs, who allegedly just received a Cease & Desist order straight from the desk of HTC’s Legal Counsel.

According to HTC, Shipped-ROMs is stepping out of line by “illegal copying … HTC¡¦s original art work.” Do they use “art work” literally (as in the visuals)? Or are they ambiguously using the term to classify all of their code and other work as art? Who knows. One way or another, HTC is pissed.

If nothing else, you’ve got to praise HTC for their speed: the site, operated by the increasingly well-known hardware hacker Conflipper, is only about a month old. More impressive than HTC’s speed, however, is the site’s: in that month, they’ve managed to accumulate ROMs for just about every HTC handset imaginable, from antiques like the MDA Compact to the just-friggin’-lanched HTC Aria.

So, who does one root for? On one hand, these ROMs allow the hacking community to “cook” up their own custom installs for the hardcore crowd, often unlocking or adding in features that the manufacturer didn’t — and rarely, if ever, do these leaks result in anything malicious trickling down to the end user. On the other, these ROMs are jam-packed with HTC’s intellectual property, which they’ve got some duty to protect.

In the end, I’ll always be rooting for the little guy. My time with a number of HTC devices has been vastly improved by the efforts of the faceless geniuses in the hacking community. If HTC decides to make a misguided effort to stop the hacking community that satiates their poweruser’s thirsts, so be it — but this is the wrong way to go about it. C&D’ing one site won’t do a damn thing; these ROMs will be up on another site (or a torrent tracker, or any one of a bajillion other distribution methods) in the blink of an eye. It’s the classic Napster problem; in making a fuss about these ROMs, you’ve just alerted a bunch of people to their existence. Oh well.

The full text of the C&D can be read at Shipped-Roms. Conflipper says he’ll “do what he can” to keep the site online, but things aren’t looking too good. http://forum.xda-developers.com/imag...c/progress.gif http://forum.xda-developers.com/imag...ttons/edit.gif

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

Does anyone know for sure that this is not just a fake scare? something like this happened a while ago with Win-Mo roms

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

Cyring shame, coming from a company like HTC. almost makes one want to switch to Apple.... lol JK. I am hopeful that HTC will be reasonable in their dealings as the culinary skills of the cooks out there keeps driving business their way and away from that rotten fruit.

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

i think it's fake. xda gets these at least twice a year.

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

Yeah and mighty got one to suposedly from the head mckysuish saying cease and desist turns out it was fake. Besides which android is open source they can't shut you down they have to release the source code no way to shut someone down for that. It is in the license. Besides Google has any rights that exist other than the sense overlay they do. It would basically slit their own throat. I am saying it isn't real.

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

yeah its fake cause what HTC has to "sue" for? The ROM is not theres, from my understanding its Sprint creation and what this and other community does (I hope) is produce these altered ROMs for the free to the public. So there is not a profit to gain, but there are some idiots on ebay that are trying to sell cook ROMs made by other chefs

just my 2cents

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

becasue they still own majority of the rom if anyone thinks its fake just call the number they will tell you LOL

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

I think it is fake..or eve if it is real their only concern will be the unreleased roms..mostly if a rom contains some feature they don't want competitors to know about...

In the end run if HTC pursues this, they will be digging their own grave..many of their users use them because they are easier to hack. They would be loosing a lot of their base.

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

If this is real: complete failure, HTC.

Re: HTC Threatens hackers with legal action for distributing ROMs.
 

I better DL all the ROMs while I can. :)