Re:Ask HN: Apple closed our entire app store
by tsunamifury on Thursday August 30, 2012 @06:06PM
(#4457120)
The lawyers represent both Apple and Us. This was the problem. Evidently a large number of firms are on Apple's retainer and when you get into legal issues with Apple, the firms wont represent you.
Re:Ask HN: Apple closed our entire app store
by ChuckMcM on Thursday August 30, 2012 @06:31PM
(#4457224)
Well you need new lawyers then in any case. I'm curious when you started your relationship with these lawyers. I ask because they had a conflict of interest the moment they agreed to represent you and Apple and would have settled the issue then not now. (Well any decent lawyers would and Apple tends to hire decent lawyers so by association I'm going to guess they aren't some sketchy organization)
That was why when I read that statement from you, in my head I read it as "The lawyers have made up this story to get out of representing these guys." which I admit was uncharitable to the lawyers. The more charitable interpretation would be "Wow, these lawyers are so clueless they didn't bother establishing ahead of time that a person publishing in the Apple App Store might come into conflict with their marquee customer Apple? It sure is a good thing they recused themselves since if this was representative Tsunami is better off without them."
Not enough information to do anything of course. But these two points stand out:
1) Tuesday afternoon our lawyers get involved. They try to use back channels to get more information, but are also stone-walled. They then inform us that they have a conflict of interest with Apple and cannot represent us as apple will not sign a conflict waiver.
2) Tuesday evening we contact a senior individual within Apple. He informs us that our account is clean in the app store records and there are no complaints against us and that Legal has requested the termination. Legal will not provide a response.
If both of these statements are accurate as represented then Apple Legal determined that you were doing something illegal, further by distributing your Apps it was exposing Apple to potential liability, further your lawyers figured it out too and they don't want anything to do with it.
Looking at the apps that get this sort of treatment in the App store I see things that infringe trademarks or copyrights of other companies (misusing sound-alike names or imagery).
Of course one can't know for sure until you include representative applications that were removed.