Facebook Plunges Again
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Facebook wipes out iPhone app access to its system
In a weird and unexplained turn-up for the books, Facebook has curtailed API access for a bunch of iPhone apps.Information is pretty thin at the moment so it's impossible to say with certainty whether Facebook is acting alone, or as the scurrilous hatchet man of an over-zealous Apple -- but one thing's for certain, there seems to be little rhyme or reason for the app bans.
Speculation by CNET and the freshly-banned app developers points to trademark infringement -- the use of 'Facebook' in the app's name in 'Emoti for Facebook', for example -- but then there's 'iLoader', an app that simply has a non-stylised, non-trademarked 'f' in its icon.
I'm sure some more information will come to the fore, but for the time being we just have an amazing quote from a Facebook representative: "Applications that are in clear violation of our Platform policies around trademark infringement and affiliation will be removed from the App Store by Apple," she said in an e-mail. Apple is yet to respond to the situation -- but it sure sounds like this could be the beginning of Yet Another App Store Clean Up...
Comments
12
Subscribe to commentsr3loadedApr 15th 2010 9:26AM
Facepalmbook.
Marty K.Apr 15th 2010 9:33AM
Apple needs to surgically remove the stick from up it's rectum and ignore frivolous violations and amend it's draconian app policies.
Joe Stalin conducted fewer purges than Apple.
MikeApr 15th 2010 9:45AM
So Apple should ignore those that are breaking trademark laws? What other laws should Apple allow to be broken by app developers?
Marty K.Apr 15th 2010 9:51AM
So Apple should be the legal arbiter, determining what does and does not infringe on someone's copyright? I thought that a court determined that.
MikeApr 15th 2010 10:23AM
If Apple does not try to protect copyright laws and can be shown to knowingly ignore someone's copyright then they can be culpable.
You said that Apple should ignore frivolous violation, why should they either turn a blind eye to the violations or knowingly ignore them?
Sebastian AnthonyApr 15th 2010 10:25AM
I'm not even sure who was the main protagonist behind these removals -- iLoader you can imagine Apple having an issue with... but would Facebook REALLY remove an app that had 'for Facebook' in the title?
I'm sure more information will be available soon...!
Marty K.Apr 15th 2010 10:51AM
Mike,
Apple should protect copyright laws when it has been determined that a violation had, indeed, occurred. I don't really see an app with the phrase "for Facebook" being a copyright violation, or anything with an i[word], as a single letter cannot be patented.
I'm also making a larger point here, that Apple shouldn't purge its app store arbitrarily, seemingly on a whim.
Maxime RouleauApr 15th 2010 10:26AM
I don't see why people are so quick to jump on the Apple-bashing cart. Facebook (the developper of one of the app store's most downloaded app) is asking Apple to remove apps due to what they see as " clear violation of [their] Platform policies around trademark infringement and affiliation".
Apple, as the purveyor of the service has to obey to Facebook's requests or else they will have to answer to Facebook's lawyers and since Facebook has evidence of "violation of Platform policies, blah, blah blah" , chances are, Apple will still have to remove these applications from the app store.
SlappyApr 15th 2010 12:09PM
"Facebook is acting alone, or as the scurrilous hatchet man of an over-zealous Apple -- but one thing's for certain, there seems to be little rhyme or reason for the app bans."
You wonder why bloggers are mocked as not being real journalists? It's crap like this. Hatchet man?
Sebastian AnthonyApr 15th 2010 12:13PM
Come on, you have to admit that's a fantastic turn of phrase. I put down my morning coffee and it just... came to me. Like a flash of inspiration.
hallyballyboApr 15th 2010 1:31PM
The title is not in in your journalistic favor either. It's completely misleading.
AnthonyApr 15th 2010 2:41PM
It got you to read it, though, didn't it? That's typically the point of article titles in journalism of any sort: give a little information to hook the reader so he or she will read the article.