Aussie TV production house takes on Apple

Australia’s most notorious career-and-media criminal, the earless Mark "Chopper" Read, has unwittingly sparked a David and Goliath legal wrangle between independent Australian production company Jigsaw Entertainment and Apple. The "Chopper Soundboard" app released by a 14-year-old developer surfaced last year on iTunes. It …

[Neoc]

Damn, almost caught out.

I was about to side with Apple on this one, under the proviso that forums and ISP aren't responsible for what people post on them... and then (about 0.5 of a second later) reality re-asserted itself - Apple lost that safe-haven ground when it insisted on policing the Apple App store and forcing the apps to be approved before being published. Hence, they *are* (partly) responsible for what is being sold through the App store.

[Pascal Monett]

Partly ? No sir

They vet the apps that are published, therefor they approve them and are FULLY responsible for them.

You can't have your cake and eat it.

[L1feless]

I agree...

This is a big difference between say Google & Apple. Google does not vet apps using an approval process. Apple however has a very closed system which they approve or deny apps. I hate to say it but this production company has a pretty solid case.

[Stephen 10]

one thing you missed out

They're also taking a slice of the action, their 30% cut would have to make them culpable. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in court should it make it that far.

[Aussie Brusader]

And the winners are...

The lawyers.

The courts just have their time wasted.

[Gordon 10]

Remove them all

Last time I checked there were dozens of quote apps of dubious legality on the app store this should be a spur to take them all off unless they can show valid licensing agreements.

I have to say though that this particular case smells like a lawyerly fishing trip going after apple coz the 14yr old presumably has no money.

Would also want to see their feeble quantifications of the "loss" suffered by the production company

[Paul Frankheimer]

the 30% cut makes a difference

Apple is not an innocent bystander in this case, since it reviews the apps and then takes 30% of the money. The way this could play out is that Jigsaw gets money from Apple and then Apple has to go after the kid to get the money back, since the developper probably also breached the contract he established with Apple (T&Cs)

[Anonymous Coward]

Very cunning !

A hearing about a bloke without ears ! Vey droll, Humphrey !

[Seven_Spades]

Age?

Can you sue a 14 year old in Australia, what is the age of criminal responsibility there?

[CD001]

Could it be argued...

Could it be argued that by accepting copyright infringing applications on its App Store, paying developers whose apps are approved AND profiting from the sale of those copyright infringing applications, that Apple are guilty of inducing copyright infringement?

The same thing that Napster was shut down for all those years ago.