A lawyer working for Apple has sent a DMCA takedown notice to the blogger at CrunchGear for linking to a YouTube video that demonstrates features of the next version of Mac OS. The letter is a remarkable example of bad lawyering — sending a takedown to the blogger instead of YouTube is just the start. The letter also contains a “confidentiality notice” and the legend “NOT FOR POSTING.” This lawyer, Ian Ramage of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, apparently believes that you can create a confidentiality agreement merely by stating that one exists, even if the other party doesn’t actually agree to anything.
Ian, it a YouTube video. That’s at www.youtube.com. Get them to take it down if it’s a violation of your IP and it will stop showing at crunchgear and the other sites.
And Ian, when you are done, please take the time to send your client, Apple, a similar email for posting basically the same material on their own site.
(via Digg)