克隆应用过多是苹果App Store（包括其他应用商店）备受诟病的原因之一，这些山寨产品多数是根据热门应用稍作调整，尽管极其廉价甚至是完全免费，可也还有不少人抱着侥幸心理尝试。但有些应用却属于赤祼祼的剽窃行为，比如说最近一款由Halfbot工作室开发的iOS游戏《The Blocks Cometh》就很不幸，在App Store中撞上了一款几乎没多大差别的克隆应用（游戏邦注：如下图所示，左为正版游戏，右为盗版产品）。

the original VS the clone

据称这款盗版游戏之前已获准在App Store中销售，Halfbot注意到这种情况后要求Apple给予说法，并采取行动，但一周之后苹果还是无动于衷，也没有将该盗版应用撤下App Store。

苹果的这种反应很是让开发商担忧，游戏邦认为，如果苹果不净化自己创建的经济环境，那就很可能招致更多非议。苹果既然批准盗版应用入门，那就应该正视自己所应承担的责任，采取有效的补救措施，给开发商一个正面的交待，否则就很可能让开发商自觉受到轻视，从而导致App Store的信誉扫地，无法再以最平等的应用商店自居，苹果将难以承受这种风险。

不过据游戏邦了解，苹果已经迫于舆论的压力，终于在日前将该盗版应用扫地出门。希望苹果重视盗版游戏、山寨应用的问题，继续为开发商打造一个健康的运营环境，否则损害的不光是开发商的利益，苹果自己也会成为众矢之的。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Blatant IP Theft In App Store Garners Little Response From Apple (Updated)

One of the criticisms of Apple’s App Store (and application stores in general) is how it is commonplace for a popular app or game to have dozens of clones. These can be sifted through due to their low popularity and shoddy icons, and on the off chance you prefer an ad-supported knock-off over a 99 cent app, they’re a good alternative. But not every clone is flattery and bandwagon -jumping; some are outright theft. Case in point, an iOS game entitled The Blocks Cometh, which is a straight lift, graphics and all, of a Flash game of the same name by developer Halfbot. The original is at left, above, and the clone at right.

The iOS app has been approved and is available to buy now, though of course you shouldn’t buy it (Halfbot is working on an actual iOS port). A week ago, they notified Apple that the game was clearly made entirely from stolen IP (the character sprite was stolen from another game, The League Of Evil), which isn’t surprising, as the rest of the offending developer’s games seem to be knock-offs as well. But a week later, Apple has yet to pull the app or give any kind of substantial response.

Now, it’s easy for us to snipe at Apple from here, since we’re not in charge of executing the distribution of hundreds of thousands of discrete applications. But as I pointed out when Facebook made a similar seemingly minor lapse and foreclosed on a perfectly legitimate fan page, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for the ecosystem they’ve created, that’s worthy of serious rebuke. In this case, Apple is failing to address the very pressing concerns of on of their most important demographics: independent developers. Melvin Samuel at Halfbot, whom I asked for comment regarding all this, expressed concern over the lack of real feedback from Apple. Legal recourse could be taken, but shouldn’t developers have a direct line to publishers in cases like this?

If Apple will take responsibility for the app by approving it, they must also assume responsibility when they have made a mistake doing so, properly and in good time, and follow through when something like this IP hijacking takes place. That’s called paying the cost to be the boss. If they can’t or won’t do that, well, at the very least, developers will start to get the feeling they’re not appreciated, and that the App Store isn’t the level playing field it’s advertised as (an optimistic fiction to begin with). That’s not something Apple can risk.

Like I said with the Facebook fan-page shutdown, it’s not the actual scale or content in these situations that makes them important. It’s that we are responsible for keeping institutions like

Apple and Facebook on their toes, and to do that it’s necessary to make a scene now and then. Casual injustices like this brazen theft of an indie developer’s hard work mustn’t be allowed to be swept under the rug.

Update: The offending app was pulled the evening after this article (along with others like it around the net) was posted. I should clarify that I am not advising or disadvising certain legal actions or consequences. This is about Apple and companies like Apple continuing to provide a healthy ecosystem. To sue or not to sue is the prerogative of the injured party, but to alert Apple and expect a timely and relevant response is the privilege of a licensed developer and customer. It’s our job to keep Apple (and Facebook et al.) on their toes when stuff like this slips by under the radar. We can’t do it every time (a commenter notes that an app of his was recently duplicated as well) but we can do our best to make it visible now and then and hopefully prevent future occurrences. Think of it as a sort of neighborhood watch.（source:mobilecrunch）