He was definitely in the wrong (by using logos and names without permission for starters) and ignorant of basic trademark and copyright law (which many of us probably are too!), but I also worry about two things:

- Google's continued lack of communication (most everything is automated),

- and their ban-hammer (much like Paypal's, it can be terrifying for a small developer).

BTW, he added the following disclaimer to his app (not that it did much good):

"DISCLAIMER: The Verge TV App is not affiliated with The Verge. Information shown in this app is obtained through public YouTube APIs. We are fans of The Verge and we wanted a better viewing experience to watch their videos.

Any copyrighted material belongs to the original owners. If you want changes made to this app, please let us know."

I want to use (for example) photos and names of cars for an app - do I need to get permission from the brand owners?

idk, these are a bunch of products I barely even knew about.

I thought google wallet went away around the same time google wave did, for instance.

It's the only way you can buy content (apps, music, books etc) and devices from the Play Store. If you use Android, not having a functioning Wallet is extremely limiting.