iPhone Application infringes on Bulbapedia license

[Our Wasted Years]

Lemme be lawyer!

Were you trying to be funny or are you just trying to get your post count up? :eh:

 

[Falconwing]

Were you trying to be funny or are you just trying to get your post count up? :eh:

Is there a difference?

 

[Our Wasted Years]

Is there a difference?

Haha I guess not.

 

[CuboneKing]

No really I wanna be a lawyer.

 

[Our Wasted Years]

No really I wanna be a lawyer.

Go post a blog about it. Nobody in this thread could care less.

 

[CuboneKing]

I WILL SAVE BULBAPEDIA!

 

[PokieFan09]

Who would want to be cubone...

During the night, it cries for its lost mother and it is unable to let go of the memory of her. Its cries echo within the skull and it comes out as a pained and sad melody that can travel for miles around its mountain homeland. Sometimes, it can emit mournful sounds during the day. On the night of a full moon, its cries are the loudest – for it seems to recognize its mother’s face in the moon.

... or a lawyer.

 

[CuboneKing]

I'm not just any Cubone. I'M THE KING OF 'EM!!!

As for the lawyer thing, I'll probably keep saying objection to go get a cheeseburger.

 

[Ryukami]

Hmm, Pokepedia-evolved is an offline application, that would mean it doesn't affect server loads or bandwidth in anyway. The only real problem I can see with that application is that its not free.

The information contained within the bulbapedia pages (Movesets, height/weight, dex number, evolution stages, sprites etc) is freely accessible information available at a multitude of sources - so in reality, if pokepedia did not mention their source was Bulbapedia not one of you would even realise or have a case against them.

Anything and everything specifically written for Bulbapedia (behaviour, diet, trivia, physical features etc) is covered by the license and can have claim laid to it.

The only thing Pokepedia-evolved did wrong is correctly attribute the source - if they claimed it was their information that they wrote out, it would not be infringing your licence at all.

Pokedex App and [possibly] Pokepedia are another matter, they cost Bulbapedia valuable server resources and bandwidth to run, something the developers have no right to rely on. Surely because they did that without your permission they are stealing your resources and ultimately money as well as infringing on your license?

Also, profit should not be made from any of these applications.

------- End of analysis -------

Gong back to some of the suggestions to stop it, I would urge you strongly not to block access to all iPhone devices as I use Bulbapedia on a daily bass from Safari on mine. It would severely impact my daily browsing while out of the house, or away from a computer for whatever reason.

I do understand your frustrations and while it may sound like I was defending one or more of the applications (for the record - I wasn't) I do strongly disagree with their methods and am fully on your side.

Is it evenly technically possible to make an Application that uses (and correctly attributes the source) Bulbapedia content while remaining strictly in accordance with the license?

 

[Kazooie]

Take them
to a judge

 

[Myles Grey]

Data can't be copyrighted, so if that second app creator did really just look at the (strict) data on Bulbapedia and write it down inside their app, then that would technically not violate the CC license. Listing it coming from Bulbapedia wouldn't even be necessary, although is nice.

Is it evenly technically possible to make an Application that uses (and correctly attributes the source) Bulbapedia content while remaining strictly in accordance with the license?

If it was free and listed the license.

 

[Kazooie]

If they were stealing news this might work. However, that is not the case.

Wait till thay make a new app and use the news from bulbapedia
then you could use this plan.

 

[Myles Grey]

Wait till thay make a new app and use the news from bulbapedia
then you could use this plan.

Except for the whole 'cut off your nose to spite your face' thing.

 

[Optimatum]

At this point, the best solution is to use .htaccess to block all iPhones from accessing Bulbapedia. Yes, this would probably block a few legitimate users accessing it from Safari, but at this point we don't really have any other choice, since more and more of these apps will keep popping up if we don't stop it (and legal threats appear to be ineffective).

What about iPod's?

 

[Mr. Pokemon]

Data can't be copyrighted, so if that second app creator did really just look at the (strict) data on Bulbapedia and write it down inside their app, then that would technically not violate the CC license.

You mean if they copy and pasted it, instead of parsing the webpage? I'm pretty sure without attribution and not following the non-commercial thing, then it'd still count as infringement.

 

[Ryukami]

You mean if they copy and pasted it, instead of parsing the webpage? I'm pretty sure without attribution and not following the non-commercial thing, then it'd still count as infringement.

Yes it might still count as infringement if they admit to it being pasted from Bulbapedia. However, if a source was never mentioned there is no way to know where the data came from as pokemon move sets, evolutions etc are all available elsewhere.

If someone made an offline application with all the same data as Bulbapedia (not the community written sections, just the hard data), but claimed to have written it themselves there is no way to prove otherwise. Everything on the app is common knowledge and providing the app is free, no infringement case will ever hold up in a court of law.

 

[CuboneKing]

Should we go back to contacting Apple?

 

[Transfinite]

Cubone, "we" are not doing anything. Archaic is taking care of this. Please stop trying to help. You're not.

 

[AbbyNormal]

I'm sorry, but aren't we just repeating the same crap over and over again?

Seriously, people. Don't just skip to the most recent posts... read the rest. We've covered all the bases about copyrights (or lack thereof), plans of inaction, etc. Save yourself some ticked of admins.


(Apologies for the grumpies. I just got off work.)

 

[Delkion]

This is stupid, just another guy trying to make money with no effort from himself. Well, I support Bulbapedia in this, hope its dealt with soon.