Two months ago, an artist named Christopher Boffoli sued Twitter for copyright infringement because, he said, the company refused to take down copies of his artwork uploaded to Twitter by its users.

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, sites like Twitter are granted a "safe harbor" against prosecution as long as they take copyrighted content down when they are notified of its existence. Boffoli, who made a popular series of photographs of miniature figures posed on and near food, sent Twitter numerous requests to take his artwork off the site, and many of them were ignored.

But suddenly, the pictures have been removed, with messages stating "This image has been removed in response to a report from the copyright holder." And Boffoli has withdrawn his lawsuit, saying the case has been resolved to his satisfaction.

"The matter was settled amicably out of court and I'm pleased to say that we had a productive conversation about copyright, and that I'm satisfied with the outcome," Boffoli told Ars via e-mail.

We detailed the case in September, when the lawsuit was new. Boffoli’s motion to withdraw the lawsuit, dismissing all claims against Twitter with prejudice, was filed in US District Court in Seattle last week. The Technology and Marketing Law Blog noticed the motion to withdraw and posted the court document online (PDF).

The lawsuit being voluntarily dismissed indicated that there was a confidential settlement, lawyer Venkat Balasubramani noted in the blog.

"What would these terms look like?" Balasubramani wrote. "Maybe an agreement to pay closer attention to any takedown notices that Boffoli sends (or some separate email address where Boffoli can escalate his takedown requests). Maybe a small payment to Boffoli for his troubles?"

Boffoli told Ars he can’t reveal any further details about the settlement. But it does seem likely that Twitter will be more receptive to his DMCA takedown requests in the future. Boffoli said he’s glad the litigation is over, because "It is much more interesting and fun to devote energy to creative things."