DISCLAIMER: Anyone who knows me would know that I am a certified Apple fanboy. I love Apple and Steve Jobs and all the devices they've made for us. But this is just ridiculous.
Apple vs iManila and the People of the Philippines
As originally posted by
GregR of
MangoCode in
this thread, Apple's AppStore approval/legal/design guys seems to have made another AppStore booboo.
Apple is claiming that they own the copyright to an icon of our Philippine Flag.
GregR wrote:
"It (iManila) was rejected this time for "copyright violation". Apple is claiming that the icon logo used by the application (the Philippines flag) is a copyright of Apple. This is of course an absurd rejection as it is the national flag of the Philippines and not something that Apple can copyright! I think they may be referring to a similar graphic used by Apple on their Philippines Apple Store webpage that looks similar. Yet, the logo used by iManila was purchased from an independent graphic artist who owns the copyright. I have submitted both my Icon and the Apple Graphic (which are clearly not the same image) back to Apple and have explained that this is not a copy of their image and that I have distribution rights for this graphic. (and that they clearly can not claim copyright on a national flag..)
Hmmm, Apple has a copyright on an image of OUR Philippine flag? I don't think so. See, according to our
Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines (full text),
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8491
AN ACT PRESCRIBING THE CODE OF THE NATIONAL FLAG, ANTHEM, MOTTO, COAT-OF-ARMS AND OTHER HERALDIC ITEMS AND DEVICES OF THE PHILIPPINES
SECTION 34. It shall be prohibited:
c) To use the flag:
1) As a drapery, festoon, tablecloth;
2) As covering for ceilings, walls, statues or other objects;
3) As a pennant in the hood, side, back and top of motor vehicles;
4) As a staff or whip;
5) For unveiling monuments or statues; and
6) As trademarks, or for industrial, commercial or agricultural labels or designs.
CHAPTER VII: PENALTIES
SECTION 48. Failure or refusal to observe the provisions of this Act; and any violation of the corresponding rules and regulations issued by the Office of the President, shall after proper notice and hearing, shall be penalized by public censure which shall be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation.
SECTION 50. Any person or juridical entity which violates any of the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000) nor more than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000), or by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That for any second and additional offenses, both fine and imprisonment shall always be imposed: Provided, further, That in case the violation is committed by a juridical person, its President or Chief Executive Officer thereof shall be liable.
So, Apple, if you're saying that you have a "copyright" claim to an icon of an image of OUR national flag, then I guess you are saying that you are breaking Philippine laws since our laws DO NOT allow anyone to use the image of OUR flag in
"trademarks, or for industrial, commercial or agricultural labels or designs.". The penalty for doing so is P5,000.00 to P20,000.00 pesos. or imprisonment for 1 year. And since the offender Apple Inc. is a juridical corporation, our laws say that the person liable will be the Chief Executive Officer, which in this case would be... Steve Jobs?
Note: What is the difference between a copyright and a trademark?
So wow, Apple, seriously... a copyright claim on
OUR Philippine Flag? C'mon you're kidding right? Do you really want Steve Jobs to face criminal charges here? I wonder what the good people in the Senate will say about this, although it would be cool if they got Steve Jobs to appear in one of those Senate Blue Ribbon Committees... I'm sure they'd have a field day.
But I digress.
Anyway, I'm posting the image that Apple claims it has a "copyright claim" on, together with the iManila icon they rejected for violating their copyright, and a bunch of pics I found on the net.
Apple's Philippine Flag icon in the AppStore which they claim to have a copyright on
Apple's Phil Flag icon in their Website (link)
iManila's (link) icon on the AppStore.
(
Which was previously available on the AppStore until GregR pulled it off temporarily. )
Google images search for Philippine Flag icon shows these results:
From
iconspedia.com
Philippines Flag icon
Author :
kampongboy92
License:
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Emofaces.com
BigStockPhoto.com
What do you guys think, does Apple own a copyright to our Philippine Flag? Or is Steve Jobs gonna visit the Philippines soon for an "invitation"?
--------------------------
Heres
GregR's post
from here.
GregR wrote:
Scorecard: Apple 1, GregR 1
FiC 1.1 was released as many of you know. Score 1 for applei and MangoCode..
iManila (yes there was an app in the store called iManila a LONG time ago):
Unfortunately, I was just informed this morning by Apple that they have rejected my update to get iManila working again for reasons completely unrelated to the actual update. (This is now the 2nd time)
It was rejected this time for "copyright violation". Apple is claiming that the icon logo used by the application (the Philippines flag) is a copyright of Apple. This is of course an absurd rejection as it is the national flag of the Philippines and not something that Apple can copyright! I think they may be referring to a similar graphic used by Apple on their Philippines Apple Store webpage that looks similar. Yet, the logo used by iManila was purchased from an independent graphic artist who owns the copyright. I have submitted both my Icon and the Apple Graphic (which are clearly not the same image) back to Apple and have explained that this is not a copy of their image and that I have distribution rights for this graphic. (and that they clearly can not claim copyright on a national flag..)
The bad news is that reviews by Apple are taking a very long time currently. (~2 weeks) Therefore, it could be another 2 weeks before iManila is re-reviewed by Apple again for release. I will of course extend all effort to accelerate this process with Apple as clearly this was an incorrect rejection.
While I am a huge fan of Apple products and believe their software and hardware is outstanding; this app store process is a joke. It is odd that Apple puts such attention to detail on the own software development (stories of people working for weeks on getting that last pixel just right..), yet has such a sloppy and poorly managed iPhone App Review process that makes crazy rejections such as claiming copyright on the PHILIPPINE FLAG!!!
Sorry again iManila users for the delay..
GregR
Forums 
So using the flag just for Manila is kinda wrong.
