Copyright lawsuit filed against App Store


24 Aug 2009

A lawsuit has been filed against Apple for alleged copyright violation within an approved application for download from its App Store.

I.TV is an entertainment app with listings for cinema and TV. The issue is with the image used on the homescreen of the app.

The image, entitled ‘1000 TVs’, belongs to a New York photographer Louis P Psihoyos, who claims that it is being reproduced his without permission.

“Without permission or authorisation from the plaintiff, defendants Apple and i.TV have impermissibly used, reproduced, copied, infringed, disseminated or otherwise exploited the plaintiff’s copyrighted image in the i.TV application,” said the lawsuit, according to AppleInsider.com.

What is interesting in this case is that the copyright holder is not suing the third-party application developer who used the image but rather suing Apple, the distributer of the application.

“By commercially exploiting the plaintiff’s copyrighted image in the i.TV application without the plaintiff’s consent or licensure, defendant Apple has damaged the plaintiff while obtaining significant economic gains in amounts to be determined at trial,” the lawsuit said.