Tell HN: GitHub refuses to remove cracked copies of my software after a month

  • Posted 5 days ago by IvanK_net
  • 569 points
I am a developer of https://www.photopea.com, a popular photo editor that runs in a web browser.

Many people are asking AI models to take the Javascript code from my website, remove all ads from it, and they publish such a "new product" on Github for everyone to download.

There exist tens of such repositories on Github. I want my website to be the only source of a stable version of my program Photopea. I even received emails from people complaining about something in Photopea, and it took several emails to figure out that they are not using Photopea.com (so it ruins my reputation a little).

I reported it to Github on the 4th of September 2026: https://www.photopea.com/g/XKoqqIGv

Today, a month later, I received this response:

Thank you for submitting a DMCA takedown notice. We've reviewed the information you've provided, and based on the facts presented to us, we're unable to confirm a violation of 17 U.S. Code § 1201.

What do you think I could do? Do you think I should look for a lawyer to deal with it outside the digital world? I really doubt that a real person ever looked at my report, and they probably send this response automatically to 99% of people.

77 comments

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