An open source developer has accused Apple of copyright infringement by distributing free software through the App Store.
Rémi Denis-Courmont, one of the lead developers of the VLC media player, has asked Apple to remove the iOS version of the software, because it isn’t being distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) for open source software.
“Those terms are contradicted by the products usage rules of the AppStore through which Apple delivers applications to users of its mobile devices,” Denis-Courmont wrote on the VLC-Devel mailing list.
“While the rules for distribution of open-source or ‘free’ (as in speech) software are extremely relaxed they do exist and have to be abode [sic] by. … blatant license violation cannot be tolerated at any rate.”
Rémi Denis-Courmont adds that he expects Apple to remove the app, as it removed GNU Go when similarly accused of licence violation earlier this year.
But at the time of writing, the software is still available, enabling iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to play video in a variety of formats that are not natively supported by iOS.
Under the terms of the GPL, any individual and company can distribute the VLC software, but only so long as the people who receive the software from them have both the legal right and practical ability to share and change the software as well. Neither is possible with iOS apps distributed through the App Store.
While the core technology is a product of by the open source community, the app itself was built and submitted to Apple by a French firm, Applidium, which has yet to comment on Denis-Courmont’s request.
