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by demallien 5707 days ago
No, you don't get it. The fact that VLC was on the App Store is clear proof that Apple has no problem with the GPL. It is the GPL that has a problem with the App Store. Considering that there is plenty of software on the store using other open licenses, such as BSD and LGPL, and putting it together with Apple's willingness to allow GPL'd software(VLC) on the App Store, it is clear that the party causing VLC to be pulled is in fact the copyright holder and no-one else. Claims of "But, but, he made me do it!" are every bit as immature as they sound.
1 comments

You mean Apple is fine with distributing GPL licensed Software, they just don't want to comply with the licensing terms?
Ugh. Is that what you really think that I mean? In case my point wasn't clear enough, I mean to say that Apple doesn't get mixed up in licensing arrangements between app developers and third parties, or if they do, it is just to takedown software that infringes the third party's rights, not to actually comply with the third party's demands

I don't even see how Apple could comply with the licensing terms. They don't have the source code of the app in question, so they can't comply even if they wanted to. Unless you're suggesting that Apple should force every app developer to hand over their source code to Apple, and give Apple the right to distribute it without the developer's agreement? Yeah, that's an attractive deal, I'm sure it'll do wonders for the number of apps in the App Store...