“iRip (formally known as iPodRip) was originally written in 2003 at the MacHack developer conference,” Brusilovsky reports. “Basically, iRip lets your copy and transfer your songs from iPod and iPhone to your computer.”
The Little App Factory CEO John Devor emailed Steve Jobs regarding the issue. Amazingly, Jobs replied:”
Change your app’s name. Not that big of a deal.
Steve
Sent from my iPhone
Full article here.
The Apple Original Film ‘Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie’ is honored among the first batch of Peabody Award nominees…
Apple is reportedly developing its own artificial intelligence server processor using TSMC’s 3nm process, with mass production to begin by…
Apple has cut its 2024 Vision Pro shipments as demand in the U.S. market has fallen sharply beyond expectations…
Apple is widely expected to introduce a new 12.9-inch iPad Air model at its just-announced “Let Loose” special event on May 7th. That…
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7th at 7am PDT / 10am EDT. Apple is widely expected to announce…
Hell I like it. But we don’t know if the e-mail had anything eles in it. I admit it is short and to the point. Maybe rude. Buy like I said. I like it. It’s time to stop being so fscking PC and not hurt anyones feelings. Geez he is in charge. Right or wrong. I say Hell ya Steve rules!
What if they had called it GoogleRip? Would anyone thing Google was being unkind or malevolent?
If they had called it Windows7Rip? Or TivoRip? Or TickleMeElmoRip? This isn’t even Intellectual Property 101, it’ basic common sense.
And why should SJ have to be polite to anyone who is illegally violating their registered trademark?
Apple’s changed the names of a couple of their apps because of name conflicts, and it’s certainly a lot more expensive for them to do it.
iRip’s a better name, anyway.
-jcr
iRip. Is there a carbon offset here?
Ah, sorry, the answer is here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-162031.html
iRip = “i Rest in peace”. That’s where they would be if they tried to fight this.
I’m one degree removed from the CEOs of over a hundred companies of various sizes. I’ve met a few of them personally, and while they’re quite cordial over lunch, my boss says that emails from them personally are about as short and curt as this email from Jobs.
When driving a company in a hugely competitive market, especially in low-visibility ones (i.e. they aren’t making 7-figure salaries here), the CEO rarely has time for pleasantries when writing work emails. You don’t make it to CEO that way and you certainly won’t stay one if you do.
“lets be clear here folks – the app violates some iPod related policies by allowing you to “steal” tracks from an iPod and put them on an unauthorized machine. I say he got off easy.”
You, sir, win 2 interwebs. Well said.
I used to think that the Windows/PC crowd were a bunch of lockstep lemmings, but it’s fast becoming apparent (even to old-timer Mac users like me) that many in the Mac community are adopting a similar group think.
Apple’s dismissive “my way or the highway” attitude obviously strikes a chord with certain simple-minded types, but for those with a little more intellectual depth it indicates an attitude of unworthy arrogance and disrespect, especially when directed at business partners… such as software developers.
It doesn’t do Mac users any good, nor Apple, when developers decide that working with Apple isn’t worth the effort. Recently it was Rogue Amoeba, who’s next?
As a long time Mac user, I want all the nifty apps I can get. A few months ago, I had need of an app just like iRip when my wife’s Mac decided to lose her iTunes collection for no reason. And I do mean lose and for no reason. All the music files were gone. There was no glitch from a software update, nor anything else. Nothing had been done on or to this Mac for nearly two months. It was unpowered while we were away. Fortunately I found something and was able to restore the music collection from her iPod.
Now if lawyers can only learn to talk like Steve we might actually start reading license agreements.
Or are they written that way on purpose?
On the name change,
1. Just put “formally iPodRip” on your web site, Google will still find the name and direct customers to you.
2. Enjoy the publicity your getting because Jobs replied. I’m already looking at one of your other products because of this, Mac DVD Ripper.
AM I missing something here? It seems to me that utilizing a name you know was protected was a risky, if not foolish, decision in the first place. If LAF wasn’t prepared for this from the beginning then they have no one to blame but themselves. I have a hard time sympathizing when a good business decision – i.e. choosing a name without legal protection – would have avoided all this. I think the rather abrupt answer is fitting.
The simple-minded types are the ones like you, painting things in black and white terms(if you aren’t against this then you’re a lockstep lemming!) and failing to examine the issue in any depth(this is wrong because… Uh… Well, because it’s wrong!).
“iPod” is Apple’s trademark, so it’s not exactly unfathomable that a they might ask a commercial product named iPodrip to change its name. It’s not like iRip is opensource freeware. If they keep ignoring it, then Apple runs the risk of failing to protect their trademark and we might be seeing Dell come out with the Super iPod next year.
So iPodRip gets renamed iRip in a move that generates tons of free publicity for The Little App Factory. Is it kind of sucky that they were asked change it? Sure, from a purely idealistic standpoint, but how exactly is it a travesty against justice from any standpoint? The developer walked away from this richer and Apple got to protect the name iPod.
Maybe this would have never been an issue in an ideal world, but we don’t live in one. Given such circumstances, I think the outcome of this was ideal as it possibly could be since no harm came to either side.
What are your objections to that, exactly?
Brrrrrrrrrpppphhhhtttthhhtttttt….
Oooops. iRipped another one.
LAF doesn’t have the money or the lawyers. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t respond as best they can to any suit brought against them.
The fact of the matter is that Apple waited at least 5 years to bring complaint against a company that they KNEW were violating their trademark. During that time, Apple was more than happy to recommend the app to customers who’d been left high and dry by Apple’s products (failed hard drives). LAF helped buoy Apple’s rep AND spread the gospel of iPod. Why did Apple choose to ignore the violation for so long while profiting from it?
LAF might not win, but they’ve got a point.
Guys, let’s not make negative character judgments, okay? THAT is bad karma…
For a guy who has a million different demands on his day, a million things on his mind, plus a family and fragile health and tons of pressures in business, I think Steve does great.
He’s focused. He’s not a touchy-feely chatty person. He’s focused. That’s who he is. He’s also fairly uncomplicated and down to earth and straight forward. All reasons for his success.
Let’s give him some peace and privacy!
The guy should change the name to “iPsystar”
Any idea now much a lawyer would have charged for the advice this company got from Steve? Hmmmmm?
Plus as a couple others have said, he’s the CEO!!! The company is lucky they got a reply. And a nice short one that saves them money in the long run.
How many emails do you think the CEO of a $30 billion company gets every MINUTE, let alone every day.
Steve replied. No big deal. Move on. Nice of him to take out his iPhone in the middle of a tablet prototype meeting, I’d say.
jobs@apple.com, probably?
Its amazing how everyone blows this very simple thing way out of proportion and perspective. iPod is a registered trademark, PERIOD, end of sentence. Let that soak into your brain. iPodRip is a nice little application, we can all agree. An application which is designed to VIOLATE the basic iPod agreement that we are supposed to follow, because the music companies insist Apple has to follow. I know, you want free music. Steve could have very easily assigned an employee or a dozen to take a look at iPodRip and told them to find a way to make seize up everytime it is loaded. He does this with Palm right. Instead, being as generous as he can be, he just tells the company to change the name. It’s a gift folks, a big fat juicy free music filled gift.
The story here should not be about Jobs’s reply, but rather about Apple’s practices. There is a pretty strong precedent. For just one example, Hard Rock Cafe vs. Morton (1999) was ruled that if you know someone’s violating your trademark and do nothing about it, then you can’t change your mind later:
“In light of plaintiff’s long term voluntary association with defendants and their web site, plaintiff’s delay in bringing any complaint about the content of the web site, defendants’ good faith efforts at arbitration and voluntary corrective action following the failure of mediation in which they participated and the branding of defendants’ web site, there is insufficient basis for a finding of bad faith infringement or willful intent to deceive consumers. Accordingly, plaintiff’s demands for actual damages, an accounting of defendants’ profits, attorney fees, and punitive damages under state law are denied.”
Go to court. Hell, go without a lawyer. Just show up, enter a series of previous rulings into evidence, and wait. Apple might win, but they’re not right.
It is easy and they will get a lot of publicity out of it worth millions of dollars if they play it right. Probably the best thing that ever happened to them. I certainly never heard of them before this.
In fact, that would be a great marketing strategy. Just include the name of an Apple product in your name and wait for the fireworks.
One quick point for @The Other Steve who says that LAF should:
“1. Just put “formally iPodRip” on your web site, Google will still find the name and direct customers to you.”
Apple’s legal letter specifically bans LAF from doing this. It also bans them from emailing their existing customers to tell them that the app’s name has changed.
ur websit was much interesting to me! I’ll say thanks you very much for posting the awesome stuff!