4 ms·
Ask HN: Can my GPL webapp be a paid iPhone app?
I have created a webapp which I'm wondering if would be possible to turn into a paid app on the iPhone app store?
My web app is an open source multiplayer strategy game for the web. The app is released under the GNU General Public License.
I would like to turn this app into a web app for the iPhone, available here: http://www.apple.com/webapps/
However, the guidelines for the app store states the following:
- "You must either own all rights to your submission and the content displayed in or through the submission or have written authorization from the owner(s) thereof."
- "Your submission (and the content displayed in or through your submission) must not violate or infringe the intellectual property rights (including trademark rights) of others."
So do you think an open source civ-clone violates any of these terms?
My web app can be found on http://www.freeciv.net/
- roschdal 17y agoThe web application in question can be tested here: http://www.freeciv.net/ http://www.freeciv.net/
- jmount 17y agoI am not a license expert- but I am pretty sure if you can only release your app as GPL (either it requires a GPL component you did not write or you are unwilling to release it non-GPL) then you can not make it an iPhone app (Apple seems to be hostile to this). In principle there is nothing wrong with charging for GPL apps, so if it wasn't for Apple's license issues you would be fine. However, if you wrote the app yourself (or somehow own it) then there is nothing in the GPL preventing you from releasing a non-GPL version on the iPhone app store (dual licensing).
- roschdal 17y agoOk. The code has to be GPL licensed, because the webapp is based on an existing GPL codebase. Do you have any other suggestions for a business model? Alternatives to the iPhone app store? Should I try the Android Market?
- jmount 17y agoActually now I wondering. It looks like GPLv3 is not compatible with the iPhone (the anti-Tivo clause: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/why-free-software-and-apples-iphone-dont-mix http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/why-free-software-and-app... ) but I am less clear if GPLv2 is incompatible (or if people just hope it is, see: http://www.geoffeg.org/wordpress/2009/10/07/the-iphone-and-the-gpl-v2-are-not-incompatible/ http://www.geoffeg.org/wordpress/2009/10/07/the-iphone-and-t... ). So you may want to look a bit deeper into the license of the library you are using (LGPL, GPLv2, GPLv3 ...).
- Someone 17y ago1: I am not sure you understand what the App store is. The page you reference is not the App store; it is just a page where apple promotes URLs of web applications. 2: You probably are the best to judge whether your clone complies with those requirements. Who wrote the code? Who created the graphics? 3: Finally, there is the issue whether cloning an existing application infringes on somebody's rights. On the one hand the right holders probably are aware of the existence of freeciv, and haven't acted against it yet. On the other hand, you are saying you want to charge for using it. That may mve you over a limit the right holders have set.