Mac App Store submission

[eagerMoose]

I know this was already discussed here, but I was wondering if anyone was willing to share their experiences with Mac App Store/iOS App store submissions.

I made an OS X app that downloads subtitles based only on their hash code (so the user can't enter the name of the movie/tv show). The app got rejected by the review team for possible copyright infringement. I provided a signed document from OS admin, but they wanted permission from the film companies which, obviously, I don't have and can't argue against.

However, there are numerous other apps that do in fact use OS API and download subtitles, both on iOS and Mac App store. However, submitting those examples also didn't help my case so I'm stuck where I am.

I've pretty much given up completely, the only left option is to do an app rebranding and submit it as a new app in hope that I'd get a different reviewer. However, given that they have all review history, I doubt that would do any good.

[MarcoTC]

That's the thing with the MAS. I guess it totally depends on the reviewer and his mood that day. There are also Apps that are suddenly rejected after some minor (non related) update.
I think what you're saying is pretty much the only thing you can do. Submit it as a new App and see what happens.

If your App is not *only* about downloading subs, maybe you can submit a free version of your App and refer to your site where they can download the Full version.

[eagerMoose]

I'm just worried that if I try to con them by submitting a rebranded app, I'll somehow get blacklisted or something. They have my submission history, so it's not like it wouldn't be obvious what I'm doing

[rednoah42]

FileBot was originally accepted with the Subtitle feature, and there's a few other apps that got accepted that use OpenSubtitles. But it's really up to the reviewer, so even if you get accepted once, it'll probably get flagged a few updates down the line. I've had the "App Review Board" reevaluate, and they confirmed that they need "permission from content owners". Also, according to them "OpenSubtitles is not the content owner".

So FileBot has been accepted originally, but now all updates are flagged and rejected. After messaging the review robots (can't tell if human based on canned copy & paste responses) for about 3 months I have given up, and will remove support for downloading subtitles with the next release.

If you want to download subtitles from OpenSubtitles, then they will reject your application. If not immediately, then probably with your next update.

[eagerMoose]

Well, in my opinion, it's understandable why they're rejecting these apps, downloading subtitles is legally a grey area at best and I'm pretty sure it is breaking DMCA.

However, what's frustrating is that the rules aren't same for all developers and it seems Apple is more lenient on iOS. Infuse is probably one of the most popular iOS video players and it has a subtitle download feature, yet I see it's regularly updated.

[rednoah42]

In a way, DMCA protects OpenSubtitles, in that a "content owner" isn't happy with his content being available on OpenSubtitles, they can tell OpenSubtitles to take it down. So as far as OpenSubtitles is concerned, it's all legal as long as they comply with the DMCA takedown requests. (I'm not a lawyer though, don't listen to me.)

<RANT>
IMHO an application that uses OpenSubtitles as an API is no more legal/illegal than Google Image Search or an app that downloads images from imgur. It's not like they own the content they index/store. It's annoying that <certain fruits company> decides what is legal, rather than the actual law.
</RANT>

The review robot said they have recently started cracking down more on these things, and the most recently updated OpenSubtitles app I've found was from half a year ago.

If the subtitle feature is hidden within the video player, there's a good chance the reviewer won't notice, because whatever video the reviewer is testing with, OpenSubtitles probably doesn't have subtitles for that anyway.