Apple removes 'fake' apps from App Store

Just before the weekend, Apple made a statement against plagiarism, by removing ‘fake’ apps from their App Store. This moved is fueled by a growing number of complaints by game designers concerning games in Apple's App store.

Recently, The Guardian wrote about how game designer Anton Sinelnikov made dozens of smartphone games that appeared to be outright copies of existing games. Mr. Sinelnikov copied some of the most popular game apps and soon the ‘fakes’ were listed in de top 10 most sold apps. Independent studios like Imangi and Andreas Illiger complained about this new form of piracy.

Since Friday February 3rd, Apple has removed many of Sinelnikov’s apps so they’re no longer available for download. At least not in the U.S. version of the App Store. Reportedly, several other rip-offs have been removed as well.

Although it is positive to see Apple standing up against copyright infringing applications in their App Store, it remains unclear how the tech company makes these judgements. Legally, there is a very fine line between illegally copying something on the one hand and, on the other hand, creating a legitimate product that is inspired by an existing idea but has been developed into something new by it’s designer.

Game designer Zynga has been caught up in this discussion for quite a while now. Critics have accused Zynga of plagiarism, while Zynga claims they produce ‘evolutions’ by taking an existing idea and improving it. To judge whether this type of product is legitimate, comes down to the question whether the ‘evolutions’ reflect creative choices of their designer, or whether all creativity is actually cloned from the original product. It is also a question usually answered by judges, not tech companies so we might see som new jurisprudence develop around this topic in the years to come.

Sources: TechCrunch, The Guardian, twitter