23 replies to this topic

[-Razorfold]

Quote

It is no secret that Google does not see much reason to support Windows Phone 7 with their numerous services, such as YouTube, Google Voice etc, but it seems the company has now gone on the offensive even against 3rd party applications which offer their services on Windows Phone platform.

The developer of YouTube Live has received a notice from Microsoft on behalf of Google asking them to remove YouTube Live, reading:

Quote

"This message is to notify you that Microsoft has received Content Infringement Complaint (“Complaint”) regarding your application Youtube Live. A copy of the Complaint is attached for your review.

Remove Application Access Immediately

You must remove access to the application from the Marketplace within one business day. If your application is still available for download after one business day,Microsoft may remove the application without further notice. Please note that under certain circumstances Microsoft may remove your app immediately without providing you the opportunity to remove it."

Google services form a pretty important part of the online experience for most internet users, and it would be pretty damaging if Windows Phone 7 appears not to offer any access to their services. While Google is within their rights to ask for these apps to change their names, it does make it more difficult for new users to find these apps.

At least the notice means Windows Phone has become big enough for Google to take notice, which is not a bad thing in itself.

Source: http://wmpoweruser.c...their-services/

tl:dr Google doesn't want you using their product names (GVoice, YouTube etc) for third party apps

[Tom]

Wait what? What a douche move.

[-Razorfold]

Tom, on 05 May 2012 - 23:27, said:

Wait what? What a douche move.

It is, but its their trademarks so bleh. Sucks that the only application they've made for WP7 is an absolutely terrible search app. At least third party devs have been able to make pretty good Voice, youtube and google maps apps.

Can someone who has iTunes check to see if there are any third party apps using Google trademarked names in the App Store?

What's funny is that if it was Microsoft doing this to Android, this thread would be filled with complaints

[Mullins]

Surprising? No.

[Simon-]

OK OK finally we have found something that Google has done which is evil!

[GP007]

-Razorfold, on 06 May 2012 - 04:32, said:

It is, but its their trademarks so bleh. Sucks that the only application they've made for WP7 is an absolutely terrible search app. At least third party devs have been able to make pretty good Voice, youtube and google maps apps.

Can someone who has iTunes check to see if there are any third party apps using Google trademarked names in the App Store?

What's funny is that if it was Microsoft doing this to Android, this thread would be filled with complaints

You're right about that, there's always this huge double standard it seems. Anyways, if I had that kinda app i'd change the name but just keep Google and Youtube etc as one of the keywords for a search, then people should still be able to find my app. Now if Google takes this to the next level and says don't use our services at all or changed the APIs in a way that killed the apps then that'd be a really huge issue.

Still, WP is a small market, why do they even care so much? And why do this now? WP and some of those apps have been out for a year or more at this point, so did they just now look at the platform (doubt it seeing as they've copied some key parts of WP over to Android). I could just be jumping to conclusions, but since this is neowin and lots of people do I'd say it's a aftereffect of the Lumia 900 doing well sales wise.

[alphaomegainfinity]

How can an app infringe their rights whereas the same site can be accessed through the web on a Mango phone?

[Syanide]

alphaomegainfinity, on 06 May 2012 - 08:18, said:

How can an app infringe their rights whereas the same site can be accessed through the web on a Mango phone?

It's not the app, it's the name. Imagine a situation where someone would distribute malware under the "YouTube Live" name. Most people would point fingers at Google and go to them for support, etc. This is pretty much a non-issue.

[foodan]

Google apparently went after the Metrotube app previously and had it taken down. That app never infringed on the the Google's products name either. This is just Google being total douche bags.

[GP007]

foodan, on 06 May 2012 - 12:22, said:

Google apparently went after the Metrotube app previously and had it taken down. That app never infringed on the the Google's products name either. This is just Google being total douche bags.

I guess you can't have a app with "tube" in the title now eh? Metrotube was a good app to.

[fenderMarky]

Syanide, on 06 May 2012 - 12:06, said:

It's not the app, it's the name. Imagine a situation where someone would distribute malware under the "YouTube Live" name. Most people would point fingers at Google and go to them for support, etc. This is pretty much a non-issue.

This is not android...

[ichi]

foodan, on 06 May 2012 - 12:22, said:

Google apparently went after the Metrotube app previously and had it taken down. That app never infringed on the the Google's products name either. This is just Google being total douche bags.

Google didn't go after Metrotube, the Metrotube developer decided to discontinue the app because of issues with the API.

[DevilsNotDead]

Good move by Google... it will mislead customer who might think that its a service by google.
Developers should use some other name. also this will make Android more appealing to people who use google a lot and realize that there is no official apps on wp7.I think its a win for Google.

[.Neo]

-Razorfold, on 06 May 2012 - 04:32, said:

What's funny is that if it was Microsoft Apple doing this to Android, this thread would be filled explode with complaints

Fixed that for you.

[-Razorfold]

DevilsNotDead, on 06 May 2012 - 17:10, said:

Good move by Google... it will mislead customer who might think that its a service by google.
Developers should use some other name. also this will make Android more appealing to people who use google a lot and realize that there is no official apps on wp7.I think its a win for Google.

Lol ok then. Maybe Microsoft should stop allowing Exchange to be used on Android (what's funny is Google doesn't even pay for it and instead uses some reverse engineered version that they made). Hotmail apps / access from all Android phones should be completely revoked too Pretty sure that you'll find more people use Microsoft's offerings (mail, msn messenger etc but not search) than Google.

Nice trolling there bro.

What's funny is that those apps are often quite high quality, look pretty good and run really well. So essentially those devs are doing Google a favor by building apps that use Google Services (google would also earn money from the maps application).

But its like I said, if Microsoft did this to Android this topic would have had about 200 replies by now. Since its Google, not even 1 page.