Mazda false DMCA takedown notice Home Assistant App

Mazda brand cars allow remote access to certain functions of the vehicle via servers owned by the company. To access these functions, Mazda provides an official app for the smartphone. After an open source project emerged that integrated support for Mazda vehicles into the Home Assistant suite, Mazda issued a false DMCA takedown notice causing the project to be abandoned. A year after the incident Mazda then introduced a subscription model into their app that costs $10/month locking the previously free features behind a paywall.

Background

Many vehicles sold by Mazda allow for remote access to various functions of the car. These include features such as starting the engine remotely, rolling the windows up or down, or checking the fuel level. To control the car remotely, Mazda offers an official app for your phone that connects to a server which then transmits the data to the car.

Programmer Brandon Rothweiler released an open source tool that integrates the Mazda connectivity features into the open source home management software "Home Assistant", which is an open platform that allows users to access their products via these indiviually created integrations. The program functions in essentially the same way as Mazda's official app, connecting to Mazda's servers that control your car remotely.

Malicious DMCA takedown notice and subsequent subscription fee

On October 10th 2023 Mazda issued a DMCA takedown notice to github claiming the integration that adds connectivity with Mazda vehicles infringes on their intellectual properly rights by stealing code from their official app and wanted it, along with forks of the project, removed from the website. The developer did not want to challenge the claims and took down the repository within a few days to avoid potential legal repercussions. With the repository and all its forks gone, the integration was also removed from the Home Assistant app.

The reason the DMCA takedown notice is malicious is that code from Mazda's official app is not required to develop a tool that works in a similar way. The API of the server is freely accessible and figuring out how to interact with it can be done completely without infringing on anyone's copyright.

Additionally, Mazda introduced a monthly usage fee of $10/month to the MyMazda app starting in mid 2024. Cars purchased between 2019 and 2024 retain a 3-year trial period and cars purchased since 2025 a one-year trial where the remote features can be used free of charge, however, past the trial a monthly fee must be payed in order to continue using the connectivity features. Together with the shutdown of the free alternative, Mazda owners are forced to pay the subscription fee or be locked out of the remote features they had previously been able to access free of charge.

Mazda's response

There was never a response from Mazda, but the intention and proposed solution was for people to use their official app instead.

Consumer response

People were unhappy about the takedown of the open source repository as to many the unoffical app worked better and was easier to use than Mazda's own MyMazda service. Additionally, some have stated that they would not have purchased a Mazda vehicle, had they known the open source project would be struck by a DMCA claim.

The prevailing sentiment is that the subscription fee is not worth the features of the MyMazda app, especially considering how limited many consider the suite of features to be. Along with the removal of the free alternative, many aren't willing to pay for the features in the MyMazda app and have been looking for other alternatives.

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