Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice • Hacker News Board

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#41

Post by Supermancho » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 1:44 PM UTC

VCFundedGenYer wrote: post #36

Outsider here. The screenshots are literally Minecraft screenshots. It's a clone, and not a subtle one either. To call this "Baseless" is hilarious.

Also outsider (like it matters).

> The screenshots are literally Minecraft screenshots.

Irrelevant to the DMCA claim.

> It's a clone, and not a subtle one either.

You are incorrect. Luanti is not a minecraft clone. It's more akin to Godot. I can import Minecraft assets into Godot, but it does not make Godot a copyright violator because of my actions.

> To call this "Baseless" is hilarious.

I would say it's justified.

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#42

Post by danaris » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

zdragnar wrote: post #27

astrobe_ wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very unlikely. The DMCA notification is from Microsoft, who owns Minecraft. The sequence of events is: 1) US votes a law that is hilariously favourable to copyright holders 2) Copyright holders abuse it for a while with non-AI bots 3) Copyright holders abuse it with AI-bots 4) Copyright holders will continue to abuse it until the law is amended.

Except, of course, Luanti holds copyright over their own assets and app. Copyright is not something you get when you file paperwork with the government, it is automatic for creative works. DMCA is punitive to platforms who do not correctly adjudicate the law and self enforce, which is why they err on the side of the claimant rather than the accused (or the side more likely to defend their copyright in court). So, the…

It favours large copyright holders, with deep pockets and ranks of lawyers on retainer, over small copyright holders.

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#43

Post by danaris » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

duskdozer wrote: post #23

mysterydip wrote: post #8

Could the sequence of events be: 1) open source project publishes source 2) AI scrapes source 3) AI generates code for proprietary game similar to that of the source 4) AI tool scans jar files and finds similar code, triggers copyright violation

Doubt it. Microsoft probably just sees "voxel game" and files the claim, because they don't lose anything if it fails. From the article: >Luanti’s Android app is currently not available on the due to a baseless DMCA notice filed on behalf of Microsoft by Tracer.AI, alleging that Luanti infringes Minecraft’s copyright. >Luanti is a voxel game-creation platform where anyone can make, share, discover, and play blocky ga…

Yeah; notice that "on behalf of": Microsoft isn't even the one filing this, they've outsourced their enforcement and may not even have known about this before it blew up.

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#44

Post by VWWHFSfQ » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

whizzter wrote: post #31

Someone should copyright the American flag and popular advertised variants of blue/white/red and something alike and start DMCA'ing politicians, maybe that would wake them up to how bad the law is?

> Someone should copyright the American flag

You're someone

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#45

Post by gumby271 » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 1:50 PM UTC

shevy-java wrote: post #28

These de-facto monopolies such as "Google Play", must be forced open by governments. It can not be that they continue to turn a blind eye to these vile, ruthless and - most importantly - extremely evil action by the giant that was formerly known as Google (now known as adMonster).

What should be forced is allowing device owners to install software without the say of Google or Apple. This has been possible on Android for ages, but Google recently decided that they need to collect the ID of any dev that wants to build an apk, independent of distributing it through Google's own store.

Google and Apple can have whatever app storefronts they want, but they shouldn't have a say in what software I can run.

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#46

Post by Retr0id » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 1:50 PM UTC

VCFundedGenYer wrote: post #36

Outsider here. The screenshots are literally Minecraft screenshots. It's a clone, and not a subtle one either. To call this "Baseless" is hilarious.

They are not any more Minecraft screenshots than Minecraft screenshots are Roblox screenshots.

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#47

Post by nba456_ » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 1:53 PM UTC

Retr0id wrote: post #46

VCFundedGenYer wrote: post #36

Outsider here. The screenshots are literally Minecraft screenshots. It's a clone, and not a subtle one either. To call this "Baseless" is hilarious.

They are not any more Minecraft screenshots than Minecraft screenshots are Roblox screenshots.

Objectively, you're wrong.

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#48

Post by joey486DX4 » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 1:54 PM UTC

VCFundedGenYer wrote: post #36

Outsider here. The screenshots are literally Minecraft screenshots. It's a clone, and not a subtle one either. To call this "Baseless" is hilarious.

> The screenshots are literally Minecraft screenshots.

They're not. It's a voxel game engine with an open source history dating back a year (October 2010) before Minecraft 1.0 was released (November 2011).

There are plenty of games for Luanti that have different textures and objectives.

It's all open source. Download it and try some of the different games.

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#49

Post by peri-cl » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 2:04 PM UTC

I'm confused why the DMCA sender, Tracer AI, claims Vanuatu jurisdiction in the linked DMCA claim[0]. In separate recent claims, they have claimed US jurisdiction[1]. Is this possibly fraud?

[0] https://lumendatabase.org/notices/93778051

[1] https://lumendatabase.org/notices/80387573

Re: Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

#50

Post by xboxnolifes » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 2:04 PM UTC

VCFundedGenYer wrote: post #36

Outsider here. The screenshots are literally Minecraft screenshots. It's a clone, and not a subtle one either. To call this "Baseless" is hilarious.

Being block based doesn't mean it is using Minecraft assets. Minecraft does not own the idea of having a block based world, and there are quite a few popular (and many unpopular) block-based games. If you played Minecraft you should be able to tell that none of the assets are Minecraft assets.