More on Wang Ting — the copyright infringer swiping apps and selling them on the App Store
It’s frustrating that Apple has no problem playing gatekeeper and keeping apps out of the store for the most trivial and arbitrary of reasons, but won’t play gatekeeper when presented with clear evidence of repeated copyright infringement. A serial infringer who is stealing the creative output of dozens of developers, designers, and publishers gets a pass because that’s the legal path of least resistance for Apple.
(Via iPhone Development)
So, this guy named Wang Ting is finding Github projects, swiping the code, removing copyright notices, ignoring licensing on those projects (the project in question requires attribution and preservation of copyright notice), and selling the apps on Apple’s app stores. Shady and illegal (IANAL)–and Apple isn’t doing much about it. Jeff LaMarche articulates the frustration pretty well, above, but that’s not even the best line in his post. That honor belongs to this gem:
Too bad protecting developers’ livelihoods is less deserving of gatekeeper protection than defending the App Store from an occasional nipple.
Anything that deters developers from sharing code is a bad thing, for developers AND for Apple. LaMarche not only has provided a free tool, but he’s also demonstrated many aspects of how to develop code for Mac OS X by providing the source. Code examples attract more developers to the platform, which results in more apps and more users. Apple has seemed more like Twitter lately, though: shifting focus from developers to users. When developers move on, the platform eventually dries up.
Fight the good fight, Jeff!