copyright

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on copyright:

Apple should sue Xiaomi for its blatant copying — but it won’t

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Xiaomi Mimoji look very familiar.
Mimoji is one of many products Xiaomi has ripped from Apple.
Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi has a history of shamelessly ripping off bigger brands, and nine times out of ten, its chosen target is Apple.

The Chinese company has previously cloned the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and more — without a single shred of fear that it might one day feel the wrath of Apple’s legal department.

Xiaomi’s latest ripoff is its own version of Memoji, and it brazenly stole Apple’s own commercials to promote it on a number of retail channels this week.

Here’s how Xiaomi gets away with it.

Small company claims Apple stole Shortcuts logo

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Apple Shortcuts vs. the Sift logo
Is the Apple Shortcuts logo a ripoff of this company's corporate one?
Graphic: Apple/Shift

Shortcuts is a cool feature in iOS 12 that carries out a collection on actions with a single Siri command. But a startup accuses Apple of stealing its logo.

The company’s name is Shift, and both it and the Apple Shortcuts app have logos that are stylized versions of the letter ‘s.’ Additionally, both use similar colors: blue and magenta.

Windows Store proves Apple’s strict guidelines are a necessity

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Windows Store movies
Windows Store has an illegal movies problem.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple is often criticized for its strict App Store guidelines that prevent all kinds of titles from being approved. But the state of the Windows Store proves strict guidelines are a necessity.

Microsoft’s marketplace is currently littered with apps that allow users to illegally stream movies and TV shows for free. There’s also a range of titles that provide access to pirated music.

Spotify sued for allegedly streaming 2,445 songs without permission

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Spotify
Spotify has found itself the subject of two new legal battles.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify has been hit with two new lawsuits from music publishers claiming that the streaming music giant has illegally published songs from the label, without the proper permissions.

Artists’ work that is covered in the lawsuit include Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, and Guns ‘N Roses, and others. 2,445 songs are highlighted by the lawsuit.

Photographers add Foo Fighters to their Taylor Swift contract battle

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The Foo Fighters will perform at RFK Stadium and one news outlit is boycotting over its photo agreement.
The Foo Fighters will perform at RFK Stadium and one news outlit is boycotting over its photo agreement.
Photo: Jo/Flickr CC

Taylor Swift’s bold rant against Apple over royalties continues to echo in the ears of photographers.

A quick recap . . . Swift used her Tumblr page to chide Apple for initially not paying musicians during the trial period of the new Apple Music. Then a music photographer in England called her a hypocrite because the contract her people force editorial photographers to sign before shows says Swift has the right to use those photos for free to promote her brand.

Apple backed down, but the good publicity-bad publicity for Swift has photographers and photo editors taking second looks at the contracts of other musical acts.

When Copyright Gets In The Way, Morning Becomes Midnight

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This name change brought to you by the letter
This name change brought to you by the letter "M."

We’ve been trumpeting the tale of a fantastic game in development from the all-star team at Industrial Toys for a while now. Titled Morning Star, it had some serious pedigree and promise.

A sci-fi themed first-person shooter from Alex Seropian, the dude that co-created Bungie (Marathon, Halo) is huge news in the first place. A game that includes author John Scalzi and artist Mike Choi among many other hugely talented folks that will launch exclusively on mobile? That’s ginormous news.

Color us fascinated when President Tim Harris penned a blog post on gaming site Gamasutra about why the team had to rename the game, and how they went about it. It’s a super interesting behind-the-scenes look at the very real business side of game development, and it’s worth a look.

Zynga Sues Bang With Friends, Claims They Own Doing Anything ‘With Friends’

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Do you like to Bang With Friends? The Facebook app, I mean, which lets you arrange hookups with your Facebook friends if both of you are anonymously up for banging. One rarely bangs with enemies, and even then, only under a “keep your enemies closer” mantra.

Well, if you do, bad news, chum. Zynga — the avatar of all that is unholy about mobile gaming — is suing Bang With Friends. Why? Because the “With Friends” part is similar to many of their game app titles, like Chess With Friends and Words With Friends.

Apple To Enter Settlement Talks With Amazon Over The ‘Appstore’ Name

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Apple and Amazon are set to enter settlement talks over Amazon’s use of the term “Appstore,” Bloomberg reports. Apple has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the retail giant, claiming that its Android software store could be confused with its own App Store for iOS. A U.S. Magistrate Judge has now ordered the pair to enter talks and try to settle the case ahead of the trial.

Oracle Wins Partial Victory Against Google In Copyright Infringement Case

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After a weekend deliberation, a federal jury in San Francisco handed Oracle a partial victory by finding Google guilty of copyright infringement yet remaining deadlocked on whether Google’s use of the Java APIs fell under “fair use.” The jury found that Google infringed a minimal amount of Java source code with Judge William Alsup indicating that Oracle would only be entitled to statutory damages as a result. This certainly wasn’t what Oracle was hoping for and when Oracle’s lawyer seemed to suggest they were entitled to more than just statutory damages, Judge William Alsup quickly put the kibosh on that notion based on the minimal amount of code infringed, stating what they’re seeking as “bordering on the ridiculous.”