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Technically that's just them locking you out of their distribution platform, I don't think they'd have a legal case against you though. People sell apps outside

Technically that's just them locking you out of their distribution platform, I don't think they'd have a legal case against you though. People sell apps outside of the app store and haven't suffered any recourse from apple, at least not that I know of. EDIT: I guess you do have to technically agree to their terms to use the SDK and such, but if one were to get a hacked copy or whatever I think it'd be legal. They can definitely make it very hard to dodge their terms though.

shkkmo 9y ago
How would a hacked copy make it more legal. Wouldn't using their software without a license also be illegal?
- mattsfrey 9y ago
  I mostly just meant you wouldn't be breaking laws technically to go around them via reverse engineering. To your second statement that's actually a good point, it could be. I mean in general overall it's going to be pretty outrageous to try and legitimately develop going around apple entirely, so the OP's point is valid de facto, just saying in principle they can't lock people out in the absolute sense under current law.
  - saagarjha 9y ago
    > I mostly just meant you wouldn't be breaking laws technically to go around them via reverse engineering. Considering that their terms of service explicitly prohibits this, I'd say that it's illegal. Will Apple go after you if you do it? Probably not.
    - PeterisP 9y ago
      First, violating terms of service isn't illegal - ToS isn't the law, it's a contract; breaching contract terms isn't illegal but may expose you to some liabilities depending on the contract. Second, terms of service don't always apply, you may refuse them, and then you're not even in breach of contract. Things like shrink-wrap/click-through EULAs aren't binding contracts in Norway; so the default provisions of copyright law apply, which allows reverse engineering without the permission of the copyright holder.
- isostatic 9y ago
  > Wouldn't using their software without a license also be illegal? Which law? Copying software without permission might be illegal - loading it from disk into memory isn't counted as copying btw - but running the software?
  - roywiggins 9y ago
    If there's any copy-protection, you'd need to circumvent it, so plausibly the DMCA.

shkkmo 9y ago

How would a hacked copy make it more legal. Wouldn't using their software without a license also be illegal?

mattsfrey 9y ago
I mostly just meant you wouldn't be breaking laws technically to go around them via reverse engineering. To your second statement that's actually a good point, it could be. I mean in general overall it's going to be pretty outrageous to try and legitimately develop going around apple entirely, so the OP's point is valid de facto, just saying in principle they can't lock people out in the absolute sense under current law.
- saagarjha 9y ago
  > I mostly just meant you wouldn't be breaking laws technically to go around them via reverse engineering. Considering that their terms of service explicitly prohibits this, I'd say that it's illegal. Will Apple go after you if you do it? Probably not.
  - PeterisP 9y ago
    First, violating terms of service isn't illegal - ToS isn't the law, it's a contract; breaching contract terms isn't illegal but may expose you to some liabilities depending on the contract. Second, terms of service don't always apply, you may refuse them, and then you're not even in breach of contract. Things like shrink-wrap/click-through EULAs aren't binding contracts in Norway; so the default provisions of copyright law apply, which allows reverse engineering without the permission of the copyright holder.
isostatic 9y ago
> Wouldn't using their software without a license also be illegal? Which law? Copying software without permission might be illegal - loading it from disk into memory isn't counted as copying btw - but running the software?
- roywiggins 9y ago
  If there's any copy-protection, you'd need to circumvent it, so plausibly the DMCA.