App piracy & copyright infringement discussion

Actually I think you've got a very good point there about the methods that app software developers might seek to deploy in order to protect their work (read "money" ).

There is a threshold of restrictions to obtain the stuff, and to use the stuff; when it gets to the point of "licensing" and spying on the users.. well, I part company with them as best I can, while still knowing that it's a tough battle for them and they have to meet the sophistication of the thieves in order to survive.

FProphets said:

Developers can be just as "immoral" as the illegal downloader. I PAID extra for beejive IM app so I could have a LIFETIME license back when I had my blackberry and now just because I switched to android they aren't accomidating me. When I buy a lifetime license, let alone pay extra for it it should mean lifetime. I'm not repurchasing their app. In fact I found one (IMO messenger) for free.

Developers either embrace how things are and will remain or they need to find another line of work just like anybody else affected by technology.

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Now were they referring to the "lifetime" of you, i.e. for the rest of your natural life? Or were they referring to the "lifetime" of your Blackberry?
Did the word "lifetime" have an asterisk "*" next to it, referring to some small print?

I'm sure the problem here is the use of the word "lifetime", rather like carriers and ISPs use of the word "unlimited", when in fact it's not unlimited.

FProphets said:

At the end of the day the app developer or intellectual property owner is at the losing end of this battle regardless of how one feels about the matter. If they chose to peddle their wares in a medium that involves almost immediate returns via the internet, then they should be aware of the equally immediate losses.

No choice but to accept it or adapt.

I just hope that developers don't go to the extremes that media has gone to blowing millions and adopting fascist plans to control the internet and spy on peoples computers. That's disgusting.

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Do you understand that there are two classes of developers for Android?

Let's take Rovio as one example. Within weeks of releasing the ad-supported Angry Birds on Android, they were pulling in over a million (US$) per month and making more here than they were on their paid-only iPhone version.

They are in the small minority.

The overwhelming majority of app developers we're talking about here are small time operators, who might love to become Rovio someday, but who for the most part work for peanuts.

And it's that second class that we are constantly enforcing copyright protection for around here, they seem to be the big target. When they get discouraged enough, they simply fold up.

I don't know who these Warner Brothers sized developers are that you think needs to just suck up and learn how to deal with things.

As far as the earlier comment that if someone makes a good paid app, someone will just copy it for free - code pirates don't release things for free, they tend to charge for them, and they get kicked out of the Market for their troubles.

You have many fine theories, but I don't see how to relate them to the way things really are, where the guys getting ripped off might actually make anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand bucks for their troubles.

Before you worry about their potential fascism, try instead to understand what is going on here before demonizing for things that they haven't done over amounts of money they haven't made, and try less to lecture them about the state of the buying public - that part, they probably know firsthand.

Frisco said:

Yes, the app stealing/piracy issue could become larger and more serious as the smartphone app developers grow and flourish. We all watched as the music and movie piracy industries became just that, industries with sophisticated methods of reproducing the products, not just individuals out there trying to snag a free tune.

The loss in revenue began to be counted in the billions of dollars. I can imagine what would happen to grass roots app developers if app stealing became as rampant as the music and movie stealing was; we'd likely see whole categories of apps and widgets being overtaken by high tech piracy operations eventually employing their own developers, squeezing out the legitimate ones; basically starving them out of the app business.

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RIAA Insists That, Really, The Music Industry Is Collapsing; Reality Shows It's Just The RIAA That's Collapsing | Techdirt

More opportunities, more competition. The middlemen are the ones screaming about profits. If a band decides to let you buy electronically by distributing songs itself, that cuts out the major labels. Some comedian just tried that and had a very positive response.

More restrictions lead to piracy. Sony tried it. The recording industry would love to restrict a song to one device only. You would have to BUY another copy to play elsewhere.

The devs do need to get paid. Whoever is distributing shouldn't get the lion's share of the profits. Isn't Apple already doing that to their app writers?

Copyright would have to be looked at carefully. With so many small app developers the odds of two or more coming up with the same idea at the same time really isn't piracy. I don't know how that would be solved.

If the app is extremely popular and someone just tries to copy it - no.

zuben el genub said:

The devs do need to get paid. Whoever is distributing shouldn't get the lion's share of the profits. Isn't Apple already doing that to their app writers?

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No IIRC Apple, Google, and Amazon all take 30% which has become standard for the industry. The structure of the industry is different there aren't as many middlemen and with current technology I don't see a need for there to be middlemen as you don't need a sponsorship or someone to back you to release an app.

EarlyMon said:

Let's take Roxio Rovio as one example. Within weeks of releasing the ad-supported Angry Birds on Android [...]

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ftfy

LoL my bad, many thanks!

you used it in another paragraph as well

I confess to googling "roxio."

I remembered the burner, but thought EM was somehow .. oh, never mind.

In my mind, I completely typed Rovio, but in my fingers, well...