Russian Railways File a Suit against Apple

Yet another claim against Apple arrives from a railroad company. Last time it was Switzerland because of iOS 6 clock design, now it is the Russian Railways, the monopoly that happens to be one of the largest transportation companies in the world.

The company has filed a suit in a Russian court for copyright infringement. The reason is an app in the Apple’s App Store which used the company’s logo in its icon while this usage has not been authorized by the brand owner. The claim amount is approximately $66,000 (2 million Russian rubles that is so in Russia the amount does not look this ridiculous).

The infringing app was submitted to the App Store by an independent Russian developer and was promptly removed from the App Store but this does not mean the claim will be dropped: the misdeed has been done so it needs a proper action now.

Nevertheless, the developer of the app promptly released an updated application version with a new icon which has been equally promptly approved by Apple. I believe he will get numerous extra sales of the app (along with his other apps) following the discussion of the news in the Russian media. Honestly, I could not help but wonder how Apple will deal with a developer who has unintentionally caused a lawsuit against them – new icon or not. But it looks like they don’t intend to stop the developer from making money off his apps in the App Store while they deal with the proceedings.

I am not an expert in copyright infringement issues, but it looks like since Apple controls everything that gets published in the App Store, they might very well be found guilty. But the corporation may prove that the developer has misled them in claiming not to infringe any copyright, and in this case Apple will be able to file a suit against this person.

Now I can imagine that many iOS developers will face a new problem with their apps and updates going through the approval process as Apple will probably now focus more on intellectual property issues and will dig deeper than it used to.

Via (in Russian)