4 ms·

Wait, I'm confused. Why did Apple take the game down worldwide instead of only in China? They only "violated" Chinese copyright law, but they're punished for it

Wait, I'm confused. Why did Apple take the game down worldwide instead of only in China? They only "violated" Chinese copyright law, but they're punished for it globally?

wavefunction 7y ago
Apple recognized Chinese claims of IP over the rest of the world.
- techntoke 7y ago
  Says a lot about how they think about privacy too.
  - draw_down 7y ago
    Come on
  - kkarakk 7y ago
    Apple doesn't toot their privacy horn in countries like China for a reason
    - jimclegg 7y ago
      Apple knows where their future is...
mattnewton 7y ago
No inside info here, but my guess is this is a nuanced situation that broke Apple’s internal review process. This situation is thoroughly off script, requires a political and legal understanding of multiple countries trademark frameworks, with potential penalties for not complying quickly. They probably just messed up and someone internally will try to bring it back online outside of China now that this is getting wider coverage.
perennate 7y ago
Per [1] my understanding is that they took down the game worldwide, but that the action will only affect Chinese-speaking markets since the English name was not trademarked in China. Perhaps if they had trademarked the Chinese name in the US (assuming this is possible) they could fight this. Or maybe they would have to fight it in every sovereign country, e.g. Taiwan (ROC), Malaysia, etc. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/bs6n3l/apple_removed_my_game_from_the_app_store_because/eokkp52/ https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/bs6n3l/apple_remov...
- jaycroft 7y ago
  Apple took down the Clicker Heroes app in all languages, English (for which the company does hold a trademark) included, worldwide.
  - perennate 7y ago
    But why don't they remove the Chinese localization like that person is saying and get it re-activated? Is that not possible? This is a post from the developer which doesn't make sense if it's impossible: > We can re-name it in China, yeah. With a ton of effort changing all of the artwork we created with the old name. But renaming "Clicker Heroes" (which we already trademarked) in the U.S. and EU would be senseless
    - jaycroft 7y ago
      I would imagine that they're working on it. But, as devil's advocate, I might ask instead "why didn't Apple remove the offending app only from the region in which it was deemed to be infringing?"
bdowling 7y ago
My guess: (1) It's probably a violation of Apple's terms of service to distribute an app that infringes another's trademark and (2) the app probably still displays the infringing mark "点击英雄" somewhere, for example if a user sets the phone language to Chinese.
- OJFord 7y ago
  Trademark jurisdiction is geographic, not linguistic.
  - bdowling 7y ago
    Jurisdiction limits where a lawsuit can be filed. It does not limit what Apple can put in its terms of service for the App Store.

Wait, I'm confused. Why did Apple take the game down worldwide instead of only in China? They only "violated" Chinese copyright law, but they're punished for it globally?

wavefunction 7y ago

Apple recognized Chinese claims of IP over the rest of the world.

techntoke 7y ago
Says a lot about how they think about privacy too.
- draw_down 7y ago
  Come on
- kkarakk 7y ago
  Apple doesn't toot their privacy horn in countries like China for a reason
  - jimclegg 7y ago
    Apple knows where their future is...

mattnewton 7y ago

No inside info here, but my guess is this is a nuanced situation that broke Apple’s internal review process. This situation is thoroughly off script, requires a political and legal understanding of multiple countries trademark frameworks, with potential penalties for not complying quickly. They probably just messed up and someone internally will try to bring it back online outside of China now that this is getting wider coverage.

perennate 7y ago

Per [1] my understanding is that they took down the game worldwide, but that the action will only affect Chinese-speaking markets since the English name was not trademarked in China. Perhaps if they had trademarked the Chinese name in the US (assuming this is possible) they could fight this. Or maybe they would have to fight it in every sovereign country, e.g. Taiwan (ROC), Malaysia, etc. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/bs6n3l/apple_removed_my_game_from_the_app_store_because/eokkp52/ https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/bs6n3l/apple_remov...

jaycroft 7y ago
Apple took down the Clicker Heroes app in all languages, English (for which the company does hold a trademark) included, worldwide.
- perennate 7y ago
  But why don't they remove the Chinese localization like that person is saying and get it re-activated? Is that not possible? This is a post from the developer which doesn't make sense if it's impossible: > We can re-name it in China, yeah. With a ton of effort changing all of the artwork we created with the old name. But renaming "Clicker Heroes" (which we already trademarked) in the U.S. and EU would be senseless
  - jaycroft 7y ago
    I would imagine that they're working on it. But, as devil's advocate, I might ask instead "why didn't Apple remove the offending app only from the region in which it was deemed to be infringing?"

bdowling 7y ago

My guess: (1) It's probably a violation of Apple's terms of service to distribute an app that infringes another's trademark and (2) the app probably still displays the infringing mark "点击英雄" somewhere, for example if a user sets the phone language to Chinese.

OJFord 7y ago
Trademark jurisdiction is geographic, not linguistic.
- bdowling 7y ago
  Jurisdiction limits where a lawsuit can be filed. It does not limit what Apple can put in its terms of service for the App Store.