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Depending on what kind of approvals they gave him 10 years ago, it MIGHT be possible that doing this violates a contract. It sounds like they had some kind of u

Depending on what kind of approvals they gave him 10 years ago, it MIGHT be possible that doing this violates a contract. It sounds like they had some kind of understanding when they gave him access that he had some sort of informal approval. Even if nothing was signed, that still forms a contract. Even if there was a formal contract or terms of service (TOS) agreement, there are certain restrictions around when and how a company can change their TOS. In particular, there's often requirements about how much advance notice has to be given if the terms of service change. It sounds like the monetary stakes are pretty small, but depending on the author's desire, it might be worth doing some research and potentially going to small claims court and claiming damages for those customers that requested refunds.

WoodenChair 2y ago
> It sounds like the monetary stakes are pretty small, but depending on the author's desire, it might be worth doing some research and potentially going to small claims court and claiming damages for those customers that requested refunds. Yes, the monetary stakes are too small for it to be worth it for me to pursue. I could probably dig up some old emails from 10+ years ago but it just wouldn't be worth it. Exposing this kind of bad behavior (4-days notice!) is enough.
Aurornis 2y ago
> Depending on what kind of approvals they gave him 10 years ago, it MIGHT be possible that doing this violates a contract. What contract? He never entered into a contract or even exchanged consideration with Yelp for the API as far as I can tell. Getting a green light via e-mail to use a free service is not a binding contract and does not come with any obligations.
- openasocket 2y ago
  It sounds like he requested API access in order to make a native Mac application for Yelp. The specifics matter a lot here, but “if you develop a native Mac application for Yelp, we’ll give you free API access” sounds a lot like consideration. That could be completely false based on exactly how that went down, of course.
  - Aurornis 2y ago
    > but “if you develop a native Mac application for Yelp, we’ll give you free API access” sounds a lot like consideration. He was using a free API that anyone could sign up for. They did not exchange anything with him. Developing an app to use someone's free API is not an exchange of consideration.
    - WoodenChair 2y ago
      > Developing an app to use someone's free API is not an exchange of consideration. I would never pursue anything further over this app that had about $2,000 of revenue over 10 years. That said, for the record there was consideration. I had to go through an official approval process that required providing evidence of the app's functionality and a few emails back and forth. I think I actually sent them a prototype of it. And based on that process they decided how many daily API calls to give me. A normal free user did not receive 25,000 API calls per day. I believe if you didn't go through approval back then you got something like 1,000 per month. So there was a consideration process on their part and a determination to green light my use case.
      - wizzwizz4 2y ago
        Ah, that's not what consideration means in contract law. Consideration means something is exchanged for something else. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration_in_English_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration_in_English_law) You could argue that the indefinite API access was in exchange for writing the app (service for service), but if this were me, I probably wouldn't bother. Maybe I'd write an adversarial-interoperability backend to replace the API, or open-source the app to allow other interested parties to do so. Or maybe I'd just say "It was a nice run", and let it die. If you care enough to send a polite email, you could say that Yelp has a prior agreement, you'd appreciate them not reneging, and if they do, you'd appreciate compensation for your labour (minus, of course, the money you made from the software). Probably won't go anywhere, but…
        WoodenChair 2y ago
School-Cotton 2y ago
I would be amazed if it’s somehow possible for a company to implicitly commit themselves to giving you API access forever without a formal contract.
- openasocket 2y ago
  Not forever, no. But usually with any sort of contract, when one side wants to break or alter the contract they have to give the other side adequate notice. In certain circumstances a contract can eliminate such a requirement, and the definition of “adequate” would vary a lot based on specifics, but that is very much a possibility in this case.
- ynx 2y ago
  What's needed to form a contract is an offer, acceptance, and consideration - if an offer was made and accepted and something of value was exchanged, and there wasn't confusion about the terms (after 10 years, there wouldn't be), that's good enough for a contract to have legal force.

WoodenChair 2y ago

> It sounds like the monetary stakes are pretty small, but depending on the author's desire, it might be worth doing some research and potentially going to small claims court and claiming damages for those customers that requested refunds. Yes, the monetary stakes are too small for it to be worth it for me to pursue. I could probably dig up some old emails from 10+ years ago but it just wouldn't be worth it. Exposing this kind of bad behavior (4-days notice!) is enough.

Aurornis 2y ago

> Depending on what kind of approvals they gave him 10 years ago, it MIGHT be possible that doing this violates a contract. What contract? He never entered into a contract or even exchanged consideration with Yelp for the API as far as I can tell. Getting a green light via e-mail to use a free service is not a binding contract and does not come with any obligations.

openasocket 2y ago
It sounds like he requested API access in order to make a native Mac application for Yelp. The specifics matter a lot here, but “if you develop a native Mac application for Yelp, we’ll give you free API access” sounds a lot like consideration. That could be completely false based on exactly how that went down, of course.
- Aurornis 2y ago
  > but “if you develop a native Mac application for Yelp, we’ll give you free API access” sounds a lot like consideration. He was using a free API that anyone could sign up for. They did not exchange anything with him. Developing an app to use someone's free API is not an exchange of consideration.
  - WoodenChair 2y ago
    > Developing an app to use someone's free API is not an exchange of consideration. I would never pursue anything further over this app that had about $2,000 of revenue over 10 years. That said, for the record there was consideration. I had to go through an official approval process that required providing evidence of the app's functionality and a few emails back and forth. I think I actually sent them a prototype of it. And based on that process they decided how many daily API calls to give me. A normal free user did not receive 25,000 API calls per day. I believe if you didn't go through approval back then you got something like 1,000 per month. So there was a consideration process on their part and a determination to green light my use case.
    - wizzwizz4 2y ago
      Ah, that's not what consideration means in contract law. Consideration means something is exchanged for something else. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration_in_English_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration_in_English_law) You could argue that the indefinite API access was in exchange for writing the app (service for service), but if this were me, I probably wouldn't bother. Maybe I'd write an adversarial-interoperability backend to replace the API, or open-source the app to allow other interested parties to do so. Or maybe I'd just say "It was a nice run", and let it die. If you care enough to send a polite email, you could say that Yelp has a prior agreement, you'd appreciate them not reneging, and if they do, you'd appreciate compensation for your labour (minus, of course, the money you made from the software). Probably won't go anywhere, but…
      - WoodenChair 2y ago

School-Cotton 2y ago

I would be amazed if it’s somehow possible for a company to implicitly commit themselves to giving you API access forever without a formal contract.

openasocket 2y ago
Not forever, no. But usually with any sort of contract, when one side wants to break or alter the contract they have to give the other side adequate notice. In certain circumstances a contract can eliminate such a requirement, and the definition of “adequate” would vary a lot based on specifics, but that is very much a possibility in this case.
ynx 2y ago
What's needed to form a contract is an offer, acceptance, and consideration - if an offer was made and accepted and something of value was exchanged, and there wasn't confusion about the terms (after 10 years, there wouldn't be), that's good enough for a contract to have legal force.