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Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store

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Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store

#1

Post by mhdhejazi »

I developed a Coronavirus tracker app for iOS and macOS and open-sourced the project on GitHub [1]. I tried to publish the app on the App Store, but it got rejected by Apple because it's not from a health organization [2].

Today, I found my app published on the App Store by "The Saudi National Health Information Center", a Saudi government institution, after they made slight changes and additions [3].

[1] https://github.com/mhdhejazi/CoronaTracker

[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/apple-rejects-coronavirus-ap...

[3] https://apps.apple.com/sa/app/corona-map/id1503046302

Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store

#4

Post by mhdhejazi »

happytiger wrote: post #3

You say here it’s open source, but your licenses read me says it’s ffnc use?

I published the app under the GPL-3 license, and with a clear statement that says "It's not allowed to publish, distribute the app, or use it in a commercial way". They neither respected the license nor the other conditions.

Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store

#5

Post by mehh »

First off, looks like a nice app, well done.

So what exactly is your objection? You open-sourced it under GPL, you mentioned they made some changes, have they not open sourced them and thus broke the terms of the Licence, is that what bothers you?

Or is it lack of attribution and notifying you, which would be a decent and respectful thing to do?

What was your actual intention here: 1. Create an app to help the world during this terrible time? 2. Build something you could make some money from? 3. Build something to get kudos from?

As it stood your app wasn't available as Apple rejected it, these guys made it available and thus if your goal was option 1 they helped you!

If option 2, then you failed upon failure and serves you right.

If option 3, I'm not sure you GPL requires attribution within the app, but they do have to open source there changes and thus should make it clear, its built upon your work.

Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store

#6

Post by alain94040 »

mhdhejazi wrote: post #4
happytiger wrote: post #3

You say here it’s open source, but your licenses read me says it’s ffnc use?

I published the app under the GPL-3 license, and with a clear statement that says "It's not allowed to publish, distribute the app, or use it in a commercial way". They neither respected the license nor the other conditions.

You can't quite do that. The LICENSE file you put on Git is GPL-3. It's not compatible with the restrictions you are asking for.

And it's not clear that the copy is used in a commercial way. If the app is free, maybe they follow your full conditions?

Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store

#8

Post by skissane »

mhdhejazi wrote: post #4
happytiger wrote: post #3

You say here it’s open source, but your licenses read me says it’s ffnc use?

I published the app under the GPL-3 license, and with a clear statement that says "It's not allowed to publish, distribute the app, or use it in a commercial way". They neither respected the license nor the other conditions.

The GPL3 license allows people to "publish, distribute the app, or use it in a commercial way" (provided that they comply with the other GPL3 conditions, of course). So, when you say it is under GPL3, then say people can't do something which GPL3 allows, you are contradicting yourself.

If you release something under self-contradictory licensing terms, and then people use it in a way you didn't expect – maybe the problem was with your self-contradictory licensing?

Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store

#9

Post by mhdhejazi »

mehh wrote: post #5

First off, looks like a nice app, well done. So what exactly is your objection? You open-sourced it under GPL, you mentioned they made some changes, have they not open sourced them and thus broke the terms of the Licence, is that what bothers you? Or is it lack of attribution and notifying you, which would be a decent and respectful thing to do? What was your actual intention here: 1. Create an app to help the world…

It'd be totally fine had they respected the license or attributed the project. It's great to know that people use your app and find it useful, and that's why I offered the app to JHU to publish it in their name when Apple rejected it. I'm bothered more by the way the app is published without attribution and how I knew about that.

Re: Saudi Arabia ripped off my open-source app and published it on the App Store

#10

Post by mehh »

mhdhejazi wrote: post #9
mehh wrote: post #5

First off, looks like a nice app, well done. So what exactly is your objection? You open-sourced it under GPL, you mentioned they made some changes, have they not open sourced them and thus broke the terms of the Licence, is that what bothers you? Or is it lack of attribution and notifying you, which would be a decent and respectful thing to do? What was your actual intention here: 1. Create an app to help the world…

It'd be totally fine had they respected the license or attributed the project. It's great to know that people use your app and find it useful, and that's why I offered the app to JHU to publish it in their name when Apple rejected it. I'm bothered more by the way the app is published without attribution and how I knew about that.

That sounds like a fair complaint to me!
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