Apple Rejecting e-Book Apps Due To Third Party Rights Infringements

The never-ending saga of app rejections continues.  According to TUAW, Apple is now rejecting all e-book app submissions because such apps are commonly used to infringe upon third party rights. Developer Alexmak shared his rejection email from Apple which he received after trying to submit his app for the ninth time, and it goes a little something like this:

Thank you for submitting i2Reader 3.0.1 to the App Store. We’ve reviewed i2Reader 3.0.1 and determined that we cannot post this version of your application to the App Store at this time because this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing upon third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store. If you believe you can make the necessary modifications to bring your application in compliance with iPhone Software License Agreement, we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review.

Developers really have no option here, because even though Apple left the door open at the end of the email with that whole "if you can make the necessary modifications" nonsense, they can't control what content users bring into the app.  According to TUAW, Apple is even rejecting apps in which developers are able to prove that they hold the rights to the content being submitted. It's understandable that reviewing the huge amount of e-book reader apps is taking its toll on the approval system, but Apple is really going about this in the wrong way.  If a developer is able to prove that their content is their own, or that the app being submitted doesn't contain any infringing content, there shouldn't be any problem. Because of this recent turn of events, some have speculated that Apple intends on entering the e-book market with their rumored tablet computer, but this just seems unlikely.  Plus, it's hard to believe the folks running Apple want to bring any more attention to the app review process with unfair business practices like these. We will just have to see how this one plays out.  At least there are already enough e-book readers to choose from in the App Store, and apparently those are staying put.

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