Android News
Popular Android Market apps being removed because of legal issues
December 16, 2009 | by Andrew Kameka
Android News
Thousands of Android fans have enjoyed ported versions of the HTC Sense widgets, Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein games on Android phones. There’s only one problem with that: those apps were ported by people who do not have a legal right to alter or distribute these products.
LevelUp Studio announced via its Twitter account that HTC had issued a cease-and-desist order regarding its Beautiful Widgets app that is identical to the flip clock, weather, and toggle widgets seen on Sense phones like the HTC Hero. Though it is momentarily still in the market, LevelUp announced that it will likely have to “discontinue Beautiful Widgets and Remove it from the market” in light of HTC’s letter.
Earning 10,000-50,000 downloads, Beautiful Widgets ranks among the most popular paid apps in the Android Market. Its takedown follows a similar instance in which an Android app faced challenges from a copyright holder. AndroidandMe learned on Sunday that ZeniMax Media filed a DMCA notice with Google and requested that Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein be removed from the Market.
There were 11 apps related to ZeniMax’s copyright, and there are also other apps in the Market that replicate HTC’s intellectual property. Their takedown is an eye-opener for developers who incorporate materials that they do not own into their work. Homescreen themes that include photos, sports team logos, and icons created by others are another example of market listings that could face trouble at some point. The Android Market may have 20,000+ apps at the moment, but that number could go down if copyright-holders start skimming through the Market more often.
Via AndroidGuys and AndroidandMe
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Maybe this is a small positive to come from the otherwise horrendous market interface!
My question is if LevelUp replicated the look and feel of the HTC widgets or if they modified HTC's code to work on other devices? If the former, they might want to reskin a bit. If they latter, then they are thieves and should pay the consequences.
Anyone know of a google place to get banned / removed / otherwise censored Android apps? It sounds like we need something akin to iPhone's Cydia.
SlideMe or AndAppStore or even MiKandi isn't going to stop this guy from getting sued if HTC really wants to go after him.
This is good. There are a lot of hustlers and con men in the Android store selling apps that use logos and artwork from sports teams, hello kitty, etc. They don't have licenses to use the logos and images. When these people are all crushed like bugs on the sidewalk that will be a sign that Android is actually becoming successful in the mainstream.
How do you know that these people are "hustlers and con men"?? Sounds like a pretty specific accusation to me. Do you personally know these people? Has the thought crossed your that maybe quite a few, if not most of them are just amateur programmers using their free time to respond to demand that exists but is not great enough for legitimate business to cover overhead? Why should these people should just be "crushed like bugs on the sidewalk"?? Because they saw an opportunity, weighed the risks, and did something about it?? In your perfect little world where everybody walks the straight and narrow, life would be bland and progress would be slow. These guys are helping jump start demand for these types of products on the Android market, creating the market data that legitimate companies need before entering a new market. Furthermore, while the corporations sit back and observe market trends, the programs these guys are creating lure more consumers to the Android platform, which will shorten the amount of time until demand for Android apps is great enough for legitimate companies to commit significant resources to the platform. Have fun living life in the "mainstream", I personally find it much more enjoyable to live among the ranks of entrepreneurial-minded trailblazers; the people who take the initiative that creates the demand that corporations respond to.
As long as they didn't steal code, there's no issue here. It is not like any trademarks are involved.
Actually there is. The widgets are purposely designed to look like HTC's widgets and they have a right to those images. If I make an app with an icon that purposely looks like NBA Gametime, the NBA can still sue me even I don't borrow a single line of code from their app.
Aren't knock-offs legal as long as you don't try to sell them as the original? What's the difference? HTC owns the flip-clock concept? No.
christian wtf are you talking about? anyway why don't they just reskin beautiful widgets? wouldn't that solve the problem? Also can someone tell me if the people who paid for things such as beautiful widgets will lose them? i love my BW. wouldn't have my phone look any other way.
I had my Fallout theme pulled because of Zenimax, even though it was free and I'd asked Bethesda (who ignored me!!)
Just to update everyone, the Beautiful Widgets dev has re-skinned the widget. it doesn't look like the HTC version anymore and is available in the market.
i was able to retain the old HTC sense BW by saving it to my G1's SD card, uninstall updated new BW (which I think is inferior to the old BW) and using app installer, I was able to retrieve and install old BW on my G1.