> I continued to be an Apple fan until they announced the “walled garden” and the app review process for iOS. I am totally against having to get permission from a corporation to write and sell apps (...). All Apple products are banned in my household to make a statement about programmer freedom.
> Now my Google play account and Google Wallet account are both banned for life. I’m no longer able to write Android apps ever again, and my family and I can’t even use Google wallet to purchase from Google Play.
So much for programmer freedom. Apple is at least very explicit about its rules. Google seemingly lets you do whatever you want, but then bans you if you do something that they don't like. Now of course one can say that the ban is justified, as author clearly misused the Play store and didn't follow the guidelines.
If he did try to do that on the App Store his apps would be probably instantly rejected, but he would not be banned. The funny thing is that there's a big chance that he would then write a blog post about how App Store is a "walled garden" and that on Play store that would be OK.
"I emailed Google back and asked them to tell me exactly what I need to change to be compliant with the rules. Is it the icon? The name? The disclaimer? What? Google refused to give me any additional information. So, I just left the app in the suspended state and never attempted to update it since I really didn’t know what I needed to change"
"Why didn’t you give the apps a different name?
Well since Google was silent about the exact reason for suspension, I didn’t know what I needed to do. Was it the app name? Probably, but I didn’t know for sure."
If Google does not inform you in detail that it was the trademark that was violated, they have no right to ban you on that reason.
While you might be able to argue that they should inform you in detail, that is not the argument that you have advanced here - you state that they have "no right" to take this action. In keeping with the spirit of your post, what are the requirements that Google must comply with in order to have the "right" to ban you, and how is that set of requirements determined and modified over time?
> If Google does not inform you in detail that it was the trademark that was violated, they have no right to ban you on that reason.
They have no obligation to inform you and they have every right to ban you whatever the reason is ,it is stated in the TOS you agree on when you register as a developper on Google Play. You want information? hire a trademark,copyright attorney.
It's up to you to make sure your business is legit before hand.Google doesnt owe you anything. It's their plateform. If you feel they violated contractual obligations, sue them. Just dont complain you were not informed. Misinformation can never be a proper excuse in any case.
The only thing that seems odd here is that Google appear to be proactively defending other companies' trademarks. Shouldn't the Khan Academy or Vice have been the ones to send the takedown notices? Or perhaps they did behind the scenes and this manifested itself in the app bans.
Well no; as far as those companies are concerned, Google is hosting those apps and is responsible for them. Google then by extension goes after the author of the app. Similar to Youtube; content owners just went after the hoster (youtube), not the uploader.
I’m no longer able to write Android apps ever again
Well, this isn't true. You don't have to use Google Play to distribute your app - unlike with Apple, where you do have to use their store (unless you like personally managing users' ids)
Apple is far from explicit about the rules. It's entirely possible to submit the same app (or almost-identical apps) twice and have one rejected and one approved. And they're no clearer about the reasons why something was rejected than Google is.
> Now my Google play account and Google Wallet account are both banned for life. I’m no longer able to write Android apps ever again, and my family and I can’t even use Google wallet to purchase from Google Play.
So much for programmer freedom. Apple is at least very explicit about its rules. Google seemingly lets you do whatever you want, but then bans you if you do something that they don't like. Now of course one can say that the ban is justified, as author clearly misused the Play store and didn't follow the guidelines.
If he did try to do that on the App Store his apps would be probably instantly rejected, but he would not be banned. The funny thing is that there's a big chance that he would then write a blog post about how App Store is a "walled garden" and that on Play store that would be OK.