[vlc-devel] Apple AppStore infringing VLC media player license

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

On Sun, 31 Oct 2010 15:46:29 +1100, Stephen Norman <stenorman2001 at me.com>
wrote:
> Firstly, why is everyone blaming Apple for this violation? Aren't
> Applidium the distributers of this app as they submitted the application
to
> the App Store?

Apple is the distributor. However, Applidium most likely warranted to Apple
by agreement that Apple could distribute MobileVLC.

> That would mean that Apple are re-distributing the
> application, which doesn't seem to necessarily fall under the same area
as
> distributing.

Sure. The difference is, Apple can claim to have been unaware of a would-be
license problem, and claim some kind of legal immunity under the provisions
of the US DMCA - until it is notified of the would-be copyright
infringement.

> Secondly, Apple have made their terms of service very clear in the
license
> agreement. If an application is submitted to the App Store, does Apple
not
> have the right to expect that the developer has obtained the necessary
> permission to distribute the application on the App Store?

Of course. But that's a problem for Apple, not for the third party whose
copyright would be infringed. If Apple would loose a lot of money due to
copyright infringement by a third party App Store application, I guess it
could sue the application developer for compensation.

> I think it's a little rude to expect Apple to chase down the potential
> license holders for every single app placed on the App Store
> and check that they are ok with that?

I do not think it is rude as far as I asked them to clarify the situation
and Apple never cared to answer.

-- 
Rémi Denis-Courmont
http://www.remlab.net
http://fi.linkedin.com/in/remidenis