Buy:Synthroid.Prednisolone.100% Pure Okinawan Coral Calcium.Zyban.Nexium.Mega Hoodia.Actos.Valtrex.Arimidex.Accutane.Retin-A.Human Growth Hormone.Prevacid.Zovirax.Lumigan.Petcam (Metacam) Oral Suspension….

I just received an email from Apple advising me that a company called Enso Mobile believed that my series of apps “Artist’s Reference” was infringing on their series call “Art Model.” The email was of the now-famous “sort it out in five days or we might take your app down” variety.

I went to look at Enso’s apps and, yes, they were quite similar to mine. Not only to my “Artist’s Reference” series, but also to my “Anatomy of Yoga” series, which came out before any of theirs!

So, I’ve asked apple to take all of their apps down, based on their similarity to Anatomy of Yoga. Mutually Assured Destruction. But I may be less mad in the morning

Pete at Uptown Arts

P.S. I also do real programming. But my wife, who’s an artist, thought that these would be useful.

Don

To view the most up-to-date status and make changes to your Apple Online Store order, visit online Order Status. You can also contact Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.
North American Corporate Contacts
United States

* Apple Enterprise Sales
(877) 412-7753
* Apple Financial Services
(800) APPLE-LN (800-277-5356)
* Apple Government Sales
(877) 412-7753
* Apple Promotions/Rebates
(877) 4-APL-PROMO (877-427-5776)
* Apple Public Relations
(408) 974-2042
* Apple Software Upgrade Center
(888) 840-8433
* Apple Store (Consumer and Education Individuals)
(800) MY-APPLE (800-692-7753)
* Apple Store (Education Institutions)
(800) 800-2775
* Apple Store (Small Business)
(800) 854-3680
* Reseller Referral (Resellers, Trainers, Consultants)
(800) 538-9696

Canada

* Apple Store (Consumer and Education Individuals)
(800) MY-APPLE (800-692-7753)

Mexico

* Apple Store (Consumer and Education Individuals)
001-800-MY-APPLE (001-800-692-7753)
* Apple Store (Small Business)
001-800-692-7753

I might have worded that wrong. We submitted our app for approval a couple of days before their app was approved. Our app wasn’t out first. I was saying that since their app wasn’t released yet, we couldn’t have copied their design elements and functionality. (We would have had no change to look at and play with their app to do any copying.)

That being said, apparently they had a video on youtube a month before they released their app, so they could claim we copied that. (It only shows the augmented view.) I never saw this before I had my ideas, but not having seen something is hard to prove. (Its on youtube? How could you not have seen it?) If you look at the screenshots of the two though, the only similar things are that we both use the camera in the iphone (not sure how you can avoid that if you’re making an augmented reality app, of which there are many now) and that we both display the clarke belt in red. They did not invent the clarke belt, nor the calculation to draw the clarke belt. They did theirs in red, but all of the rest of my UI was in red, so all I did was remain consistent. They mark satellites as red dots on the clarke belt whereas we put little satellite icons in the correct places. The clarke belt was actually not even in the first version and was only added as a user request. If we were going to copy his app, we would have copied it in the first version, as its a very simple calculation/drawing. If you look at the apps in question, you can see that most of the UI isn’t similar at all, and they have different functionality on top of the basic ‘point it at the sky and see where your satellites are’.

I guess the real question here is if you see an app that you don’t think lives up to an ideas potential, (there are multiple applications on the app store that help you point your dish in one way or another) should you have to wait until the original developer improves their app or is it ok to write your own? I needed a dish location app, didn’t see a decent one, saw that apple was releasing an sdk that would allow an augmented one, and so I wrote one. I wasn’t happy when I found out I had competition, but there’s not much I could do but make sure mine was better.

Please don’t tell me that there are 100,000 apps with unique ideas on the app store…

Unfortunately, for most things apple (developer wise anyway) the only communication is through email or feedback forms. In fact, when I responded to this originally (to apple) they told me they won’t arbitrate and I’ll have to work it out with DP Tech. (No response from them when I emailed them though.)

Guess I may have to wait it out, and hopefully Apple will require proof of infringement before they do the actual take-down.