The whole "notify us and we'll remove it upon review" thing is really weak and unacceptable for corporations like Google and Apple (and eBay for that matter).
If apple had to vet the copyrights in every app nothing would be approved. Such issues are not cut and dry. Especially when you are talking about books, movies etc. Sometimes one publisher does the original publication of a boom but due to various international law concerns find it easier to sell the rights to a foreign market to a local publisher who won't have to deal with those issues. Generally this rights are for all releases in a certain language or geographic market. The original publishers rarely spelled out formats because they didn't see a reason to.
It is possible that at least some of these apps were done by the 'local' publisher or an agent acting on their behalf. And that agreement has been certified to Apple's satisfaction. But the original publishers are arguing that ebooks were not included in the sale because they didn't exist at the time, despite language referencing all formats or similar. so intent aside, they may have screwed themselves and could have no legal standing only time and more details will tell
I don't understand why those got approved. Heck, iTunes is even worse. You can actually find music being sold in iTunes that seems to be uploaded by some random person, for sale! It's an obvious copyright violation. I mean how is that even possible.
Obvious - does not mean that you have a prove. Unless you have a prove (and settled it in a court) it is only a speculation.
Even in case of the violation you need to see what are the requirements by law to do about it (in a particular country).
Most likely, Apple follows the letter of law on that matter.
So why any one here suggest what apple should be doing? Run your own company. Or go to Congress to change the law (in US) if you think it is appropriate.
Comments
The whole "notify us and we'll remove it upon review" thing is really weak and unacceptable for corporations like Google and Apple (and eBay for that matter).
If apple had to vet the copyrights in every app nothing would be approved. Such issues are not cut and dry. Especially when you are talking about books, movies etc. Sometimes one publisher does the original publication of a boom but due to various international law concerns find it easier to sell the rights to a foreign market to a local publisher who won't have to deal with those issues. Generally this rights are for all releases in a certain language or geographic market. The original publishers rarely spelled out formats because they didn't see a reason to.
It is possible that at least some of these apps were done by the 'local' publisher or an agent acting on their behalf. And that agreement has been certified to Apple's satisfaction. But the original publishers are arguing that ebooks were not included in the sale because they didn't exist at the time, despite language referencing all formats or similar. so intent aside, they may have screwed themselves and could have no legal standing only time and more details will tell
I don't understand why those got approved. Heck, iTunes is even worse. You can actually find music being sold in iTunes that seems to be uploaded by some random person, for sale! It's an obvious copyright violation. I mean how is that even possible.
Obvious - does not mean that you have a prove. Unless you have a prove (and settled it in a court) it is only a speculation.
Even in case of the violation you need to see what are the requirements by law to do about it (in a particular country).
Most likely, Apple follows the letter of law on that matter.
So why any one here suggest what apple should be doing? Run your own company. Or go to Congress to change the law (in US) if you think it is appropriate.