Copycatting and Commission Catastrophies Part 1
by Sindra, filed in Comics, News on May.06, 2011
The past week as been rife with ignorant tomfoolery for the geek communities I happen to be apart of, that happen to spill into the category of “nerdrage inducing”.
First off, it appears that Apple – a multi-billion dollar company that almost monopolizes the electronic industry – can’t be bothered to screen the Applications submitted to them to be put on their App Store. IronHide Games’ had their flash game Clash of the Olympians completely ripped off by Vietnam-based PTT Solution’s iPhone game Achilles’ Defense. The only difference is Ironhide’s game offers three playable characters, and PTT’s app has just one. However, the music, art and gameplay remain the same. (though the “Credits” part is conveniently replaced with “Instructions”) Seems Ironhide is not alone, however. Semi-Secret Software’s Canabalt, Nitrome’s Icebreaker & Skywire and Halfbot’s The Blocks Cometh all had the exact same thing done – the source code ripped, renamed, and slapped together for submission to Apple’s App Store for sale. With such a sudden trend in blatant copyright infringement, it raises questions about how Apple screens its Apps, but even more so if it even bothers with the wronged developers at all as currently, none have been given any follow up from Apple regarding the issue.
So what do you think? Is this something Apple should be bothered with? Should there be stricter regulations regarding Apps?
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