Sounds like you should ask the App Store Legal Team to take it down, because the Saudi Government is distributing your work in a manner that is not compatible with the GPL-3 license - so it is a rights infringement issue.
Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
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Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#32You could likely ask Apple to take down Saudi Arabia's version as a violation of your copyrights, and a violation of the license under which you offered your creation. It's the FSF's position that Apple App Store distribution necessarily includes extra restrictions that violate the GPL: https://www.fsf.org/news/2010-05-app-store-compliance So, while your "no commercial use" addition itself contradicted the GPL, the G…
If this app is providing value to the Saudi people it would be unethical to take it down. We’re talking about lives vs an authors pride.
We are also talking about freedom and privacy for the population Saudi people, which extends to lives being potentially harmed - homosexuality is still illegal in Saudi Arabia after all.
Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#33You can't add a GPL-3 license in your repo (which explicitly allows modification, distribution, commercial use) and then also write "not for commercial distribution" in the README. Pick one. Even then, it can be argued that a national government publishing an app for free is not commercial use.
Correct. Next time, the author should just use a strict non-commercial creative commons license with attribution like: CC-NC-A where commercial use is forbidden and the author must be attributed but can also allow remixes or changes.
Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#34I understand your frustration but as nobody is making money off this (pretty polished looking!) app and it's maybe potentially even saving lives somewhere you can be proud of your work. Credited or not, it's probably having more impact on the real world than most people's side projects.
Have you written them? Who knows how this came to be, rushed out by some programmer somewhere who doesn't know about the ins and outs of licenses and just wants to get this to as many people as possible quickly.
Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
More than that, I's say it's a pretty big stretch to say that a government giving something away is in any way 'commercial use'.
I'm not concerned about commercial use here. It's about publishing the app without complying with the GPL-3 conditions. It'd be fine had they respected the license and attributed the project.
Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
More than that, I's say it's a pretty big stretch to say that a government giving something away is in any way 'commercial use'.
I'm not concerned about commercial use here. It's about publishing the app without complying with the GPL-3 conditions. It'd be fine had they respected the license and attributed the project.
Contact Apple about this.
Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#37You will probably be contacted by them. Ask for some money, they'll probably pay and call it a day.
P.S. Don't click on any whatsapp link they may send you.
Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#38I see your point about the extra condition I added to the license. And you're right, you can see it as self-contradictory. But when I added it, I wanted to make sure nobody will use the project to make money and thought it's ok to add such a condition above the license.
That said, my concern here isn't the commercial use of the app, they're not doing that. It's about publishing the app without complying with the GPL-3 conditions. It'd be totally fine had they respected the license and attributed the original project.
Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#39[deleted]
Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store
#40Negotiate to get credit for the work or cash. You would not have been able to register it. They did it with a change.
you found that out. Now you hold them responsible and Negotiate to get credit for the work or cash.