More importantly, I believe that the burden of proof is on the accuser, and so far the only thing the've done is filing DMCA takedown requests. Which have a notoriously low bar for what constitutes "evidence", thus making it a very useful instrument for harassment.
Unless we discover that the developers simply lied in their official statement on the issue, the current situation seems like a fairly typical DMCA abuse case. Since they are planning to fight the DMCA takedowns, I expect we will find out the truth soon enough.
Disclaimer: I am not trying to write some anti-DMCA manifesto, but just to simply illustrate the reality of the situation. DMCA is an imperfect solution to a problem, and I believe it certainly could be done better and/or improved. However, it is easier said than done, as I don't have a proposal in mind for a better system. Getting rid of DMCA entirely without introducing a replacement mechanism is just going to open up another problematic can of worms, so I am not going to advocate for that until I have something better in mind.
The implementation part is where the problem lies. If this company is right, then they are being actively harmed by the utility provided in the very law that has defined them to be in the right!
Even if the DMCA takedown feature makes logical sense in the abstract, its thoroughly demonstrated utility for abuse shows us that the law itself fails to implement its own application.
The correct way to resolve this problem is to change the law, such that it is no longer abusable.
Without DMCA the wrong people might benefit from the creativity of others, sure. That isn't just the case here and a solution would be nice. But as it stands DMCA affected content very negatively.
The overall parasitic behavior of lawyers is very likely larger than that of those that steal content. It is very rarely being done out of malice and mostly fans anyway.
