[vlc-devel] update on AppStore situation please

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Le lundi 10 janvier 2011 21:20:42 Pierre Ynard, vous avez écrit :
> > notably seeing that Apple people have confirmed that the "(iv) You shall
> > be able to store App Store Products on five iTunes-authorized devices at
> > any time." sentence was to be understood to be a minimum and not a
> > maximum and that the French translation makes it even clearer.
> 
> I haven't seen any such explanation from Apple, but (iv) was removed
> anyway.
> 
> Rémi claimed a GPL infringement. Apple eventually removed VLC from the
> AppStore, and it sure sounds like an acknowledgement that there was an
> infringement. But what prevents us from petitioning Apple to clarify
> that this reading of the *new* version of the AppStore terms, which
> would be compatible with the GPL, is the right reading, and would allow
> putting back VLC on the AppStore? What would happen if, based on this,
> we submitted VLC to the AppStore again? What do you think, Rémi?

Nothing prevents you from asking Apple. But when I first asked then to clarify 
they ignored me. And I understood JB had the same experience.

In all due fairness, I think Apple ought not to make any statement on the 
validity, applicability, etc of its terms. What do they have to win there? Any 
legal statement is a potential liability for a large company. Furthermore, 
their copyright agent and legal department might be too busy to answer, or its 
employees might simply not care.

So I wouldn't expect much there. In my opinion and from my experience, you are 
more likely to get a useful answer from the SFLC than from Apple.

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