Jan 22
Want StoneLoops! back in the AppStore? Sign the petition.
It seems we’re not alone in our struggle to bring our iPhone app back to the AppStore after it was removed basing on a complaint from a competitor. The StoneLoops! precedence has apparently repeated as more apps have been removed in the same questionable way. You can read about the AppVault case here.
Anyway, the authors of AppVault have created a petition so that Apple hopefully reconsiders its policy towards copyright infringement claims, which currently clearly allows serious abuse. In our opinion Apple should definitely put more effort into checking the validity of each claim, because automatic removal of disputed apps is already causing harm to developers and customers alike. You can find the petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/open-competition-in-app-store
Thanks for your support and for helping us spread the news.
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I would sign the petition.
But AppVault is not that honest.
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:13 pm
I would argue that the fact that they stopped using your logo the minute they learned it was copyrighted and you had objections makes them honest…
BTW, isn’t your Broken Apple logo a derivative work of the original Apple logo? I’m not a lawyer but doesn’t it mean that the broken logo is a joint copyright belonging to both you and Apple, and one should have a proper license from the author of the original to make derivative works?
February 8th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
I don’t know why you guys are sitting on your hands while a competitor and Apple are tarnishing your mark with their unfounded allegations. Why don’t you:
1) File a lawsuit against the makers of Luxor and name Apple as a defendant.
2) And/or, file a similarly frivolous claim against Luxor with Apple and have that app removed till this is resolved? Fight fire with fire, I say.
You are losing out on revenue while this drags out, so it boggles the mind why you are reactionary and not proactive in pursuing your interests.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Thanks for your comment Linh. Filing a lawsuit against our competitor would theoretically be the easiest way to defend our rights, but the reality is that we are a small Polish company and going to court against a bigger American company would be a very big strain on our resources and would seriously affect our business. So before we resort to such aggressive options we will try other possibilities first. As to your second option, every lawyer we spoke so far to advised against doing something like that, because if we indeed were to go to court, such action could be used against us (just as we would use it against our competitor).