May 26, 2009 - Welcome to another round of Who's Minding the Store?, starring the app approval department at Apple. I've heard recently from several developers that have had their apps denied for various reasons, such as questionable content or improper use of some sort of technical gobbledygook. And that's all understandable. But what message does it send to developers that have their apps denied when yet another blatant copyright infringement is released on to the App Store without incident?

iLodeRunner is a direct port of the original Apple II game. It includes all 150 stages. The visuals and sound effects are identical to the Apple II title. For all intents and purposes, it is the original 1983 Apple II game. And that game has not passed into the public domain. If it had, then companies like Southend Interactive and Hudson would not be paying money to license the game for newer platforms like the iPod and XBLA.

Really, why hassle with licensing deals anymore?

This is pretty much the same situation that surrounded the ill-fated Duck Hunt port for the iPhone. Somebody emulated a classic and slipped it through the approval process without any red flags going up. At least CuBert made a few paint switches to disguise its Q*Bert lift before it was eventually taken off of the App Store.

How long will iLodeRunner survive on the App Store? Long enough to get the level editor that developer Andrew Toth promises on iLodeRunner's App Store product page?

Yes, there are many, many ports of the original Apple II game floating around freebie shareware sites... but shouldn't Apple, a company aggressive about its own intellectual property, be keeping stuff like this out of the App Store?