Apps (help) Intellectual Property issue

[DaveCC 94]

Hello, and thanks for viewing the post.

Since last Sunday, our team has been stuck with this issue, we received this email from Google when trying to submit our app.

The most recent version of Anime HD, for package ID hadoukenstudio.com.animearth, was rejected for violating our intellectual property policy. If this upload was an app update, the previous version of your app is still available on Google Play. You can read more about intellectual property and our other policy guidelines in our help center.

Next steps

1. Look through your app to identify any “protected works,” or content owned by a third party. Protected works could include images, music, videos, product names, brands and similar works.
2. Remove any content from your app that may be a protected work. This applies to all content displayed by your app, even if the images are not embedded or hosted within your APK.
3. Submit the app again.

If you have the owner’s permission to use this content, please submit an appeal through our Google Play Developer help center and attach verifiable and accepted proof of permission.

We value your participation in the Google Play store and work to maintain high quality standards for the apps available to Android users. Apps with repeated rejections due to policy violations will be suspended. An app suspension counts as a strike against your developer account, and multiple strikes may result in termination of your account.

To keep your account in good standing, please make sure all apps in your account are in compliance with the above policy, as well as the Developer Distribution Agreement and Content Policies.

If you feel we have made this determination in error, please submit an appeal through the Google Play Developer help center.

The Google Play Team


Since then, we're going back and forth with this, we change things and get rejected again and again.
Our App originally was called "AnimEarth: HD Wallpapers", an app with High Quality Images and One game at the moment.
We thought that maybe was the name (Google Earth?), so at the last submit we changed it to a generic "Anime HD" but with no Luck at all.

This image is the current logo, designed by us.

These are the screenshots

We Had 8 screenshots, but we decided to keep them at the minimum, which is two, again, no luck.

Also, inside the app, we put this text at the beginning

By continuing you agree with our Terms of Service

Terms of Service

Please read these Terms of Service ("Terms") carefully. They contain the legal terms and conditions that govern you use of services provided to you by Anime HD , including information, text, images, graphics, data or other materials ("Content") and products and services provided by Anime HD Wallpapers (the "Service"). This service is operated by "Hadouken Studio" ("Hadouken Studio").
Anime HD Wallpapers also referred to in these Terms as "our" and "us".
By using our Service you agree to be bound by Section I of these Terms ("General Terms"), which contains provisions applicable to all users of our Service, including visitors to the app.

All wallpapers of this app belong to their respective owners. The wallpapers of this app can be downloaded only for personal use as wallpapers. If you want to use them for any other purpose, you must get approbation from their respective owners.

In Anime HD Wallpapers we don’t have copyright, at request of the owners any image can be eliminated. To request an image to be deleted, you must contact us at our email hadoukenstudioofficial@gmail.com indicating your contact details, a link to the original image and the evidence that this application is using it.
Claims such as "My name is…" and “this is my image and I want to be deleted” will not be accepted. [...]

Also in the Google Play's description of the app we put the following text:

About Copyright

Hadouken Studio provides software only. Brand names and visual content used in this app doesn't belong to us. If the content showed in the app have copyright issues, please contact us by email to: hadoukenstudioofficial@gmail.com with the following information:
• Contact information.
• A maximum 150 words text explaining copyright infringement.
• Reference of the image (Name of the image, file name, image location in the app).
• Creation date of the visual work.
• Visual’s work original file.
• Evidence proving legitimacy of the work. (Sketches, photos/videos of the making, copyright certificate integrating the date when it was made).
We’ll respond in a lapse between 24 to 48 hours. We will not give a favorable answer in case of lack of information inside the email.

Even with that they keep rejecting us, so we thought that maybe was the thematic, but doing some research, there are plenty of similar apps, which I highly doubt that they have the rights.

So, could someone help us understanding what is happening ? any clues or any thoughts?
any help would be appreciate it.

Also I can share the APK if necessary, but I don't know if it's allowed.

 

[lunatic59]

I've asked one of our mod/developers to look at this and offer suggestions. Unfortunately, Google can be less than accommodating with these type of play store issues.

 

[scary alien]

Hey DaveCC 94, couple of notes and questions for you:

1. Is this a new app or an update to an existing app? (the first part of the post where Google indicated "most recent version" makes me think this is an update to your app, but I can't find/see the current/existing app in the Play Store at the moment.

2. I can't imagine that your app's logo / icon is the issue...

3. Do you have any images actually IN your app (i.e., in the res/raw folder, etc.) or are you pulling/linking to images somewhere?

I would think that any images that you have inside your app's .apk file you'd have to show were owned/created by you (or have the rights to).

If you don't have/house them inside your app, then I'm not sure where that line is drawn...I don't know too much about IP issues and/or if you even have to have permission to link and display something in your app before doing so...although this line from their rejection seems to tell the tale:

2. Remove any content from your app that may be a protected work. This applies to all content displayed by your app, even if the images are not embedded or hosted within your APK.​

Also, in the appeals form / page (thank goodness they have finally provided a means for a dev to actually interact with them!!! there was no such vehicle when I had two of my apps pulled a while back ), they say:

If you selected Intellectual property and impersonation or deceptive behavior above, please provide a document that proves you have the rights to use specific content, icons, images, etc.​

4. Adding warnings/text asking folks to inform you if there are copyright issues probably doesn't / won't protect you or keep your app from being rejected.

5. In the questions that you are asked in the appeals form/page, it notes:

Please be advised that any perceived compliance or non-compliance of other developers’ apps doesn’t affect the compliance of your apps.​

so, that fact that there are other, similar apps out in the Play Store that have not (yet) been pulled has no bearing on whether your new app will be approved.

~ ~ ~

I know this all sucks and is a pain in the butt, but Google is actually just protecting themselves (and you) from future issues or complaints regarding intellectual property. I'm pretty sure that there's a bot / program that scans apps to make a lot of these initial determinations, but I would hope that there's a human involved somewhere when an appeal has been submitted (but I don't know that for sure).

If only they would give you specifics about why your app is rejected...I'm hoping they'll eventually get there, but they're clearly not there yet...

Hope that helps!

​

 

[DaveCC 94]

Thank you very much for you response, kudos for you.
1. The app is practically new.
2. Do you think that one of the issues with the app could be the name?
3. The app contains just links to the images, images which are hosted online, On our servers.

Also we have another app called YouPet which shares some code, could be that the problem?

 

[scary alien]

Thank you very much for you response, kudos for you.
1. The app is practically new.

But I see it's not yet actually published in the Play Store. Like I said, I'm guessing they have an automated bot that might be asking you to verify/validate that content you display via your app that you have the rights to.

2. Do you think that one of the issues with the app could be the name?

Your app's name looks fine to me (i.e., there's no "Android" or "Google" in the wrong places in it), although I haven't cross-checked or researched if there are other "Anime HD" things out there (I don't think Google actually gives a hoot about the package name, so I wouldn't worried about that naming).

3. The app contains just links to the images, images which are hosted online, On our servers.

I think Google is asking you to provide evidence that you have the rights to display those images.

Also we have another app called YouPet which shares some code, could be that the problem?

Probably not...

 

[GameTheory]

I'm no expert on this at all, but I'm pretty sure the issue is with the images in your app. Google bots are probably checking the metadata of the images. Metadata can contain copyright information.

If you're purchasing images then you'll have to provide proof of ownership.

Sometimes I get images for my apps by doing a google search and grabbing any image I like. Then I open the image in adobe photoshop and make changes to it (ie. change color, add or remove elements and layers, resize etc etc). This makes the image different from the original and from my understanding also changes the metadata.

Again I'm no expert on images/metadata just telling my experience.