StoneLoops! of Jurassica has been pulled from the iTunes App Store because of a copyright infringement complaint from Luxor-maker MumboJumbo.
“About 3 weeks ago we have learned that MumboJumbo supplied Apple with a formal complaint and a request to remove StoneLoops! from the AppStore. The reason? Infringing Luxor copyright, confusing customers, stealing Luxor’s look & feel and even stealing their source code! This might sound absurd to anyone who knows both games but apparently Apple decided otherwise as we’ve been requested to prepare a formal response, which we did. We described how ungrounded each claim is and supplied various materials to back our claims.”
The developers responded, denying all but one complaint (the word Luxor appeared in the text of a quoted review, which they offered to remove). Apple, it seems, removed StoneLoops of Jurassica anyway. This led to the developer further pondering that:
“If Apple stands by its decision this will create a dangerous precedence. If you are a developer and have an application in the AppStore you should quickly request Apple to remove the apps of your competition, before someone else requests to remove you! I don’t believe this can get any more absurd, but this is exactly where this reasoning is getting us.”
Copyright and infringement is a messy, litigious business, one which Apple puts itself squarely in the middle of by virtue of acting as sole App Store custodian. How can they determine merit all on their own, and avoid action by either affected party regardless of what they decide?
Source: AppAdvice
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\\ tags: App Store, iPhone, StoneLoops! of Jurassica
This is ridiculous, if this is the case (Apple removing apps at the slightest complaint) *cough* Google Voice *cough* then there is no competition. But in their defense, Apple probably has decided that it would be easier to tick off one developer than face a law suit.