[vlc-devel] update on AppStore situation please

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Le lundi 10 janvier 2011 23:53:34 Jean-Baptiste Kempf, vous avez écrit :
> > Is this the famous Apple's DRMs? Who puts that security technology in
> > there? VideoLAN publishes code for an iOS port of VLC, but I don't know
> > what happens next with the build/packaging process. So to answer your
> > question, given the context, it could mean that breaking the DRMs would
> > be an infringement on whomever wrote them. As for other infringements,
> > the later section "LICENSE OF MAC APP STORE AND APP STORE PRODUCTS" uses
> > language like "Apple is not a party to the license between you and the
> > Application Provider with respect to that Third-Party Product", which
> > suggests that the only copyright there is to infringe is the product's
> > editor. And then we know that for a GPL'd VLC, commercial use and so on
> > is no infringement, so everything would be fine.
> 
> It is my understanding that free apps have no DRM.

Technical measures against copying or device tampering are not forbidden as 
such by GPLv2. In the spirit of the GPL, they should probably be, but that was 
not envisioned. I assume that MobileVLC does not include (L)GPLv3 libraries.

On the other hand, the source delivery must include "the scripts used to 
control (...) installation of the executable" as per GPLv2 §3. I don't know
if the MobileVLC.git includes said scripts nor how the application installer 
(the iTunes counterpart on the device side) works.

But this is a potential sticking point for _any_ platform with a closed and 
exclusive application installer.


Add the ambiguity of the usage purpose restrictions... I think it is far saner 
to stick to Cydia for the time being. In the mean time, anyone interested can 
ask clarifications from SFLC or whomever they see fit.

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