WhatsApp sends Cease & Desists for apps that use native Android APIs

Ink

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Jan 8, 2011
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"The company is sending out a new round of Cease and Desist letters to independent Android app developers, but this time their claims have a lot less merit.

A legal firm representing WhatsApp has sent Cease and Desist letters to at least two independent Android app developers – the developers behind Can’t Talk and DirectChat – demanding that they remove functionality from their app or face litigation. Neither of these applications uses any code from or interfacing with the WhatsApp service. Rather, these applications utilize standard Android APIs, Notification Listener and Direct Reply, to function. Thus, the demands to strip these apps of any functionality related to WhatsApp is dubious at best, and malicious at worst."

Read more: WhatsApp sends Cease & Desists for apps that use native Android APIs

Breakdown (quoted from XDA)

"There are a number of claims made by the letter which does not accurately reflect the functionality of each application with respect to their WhatsApp integrations. Let’s break down some of these claims:
  • “You agreed to these Terms of Service by installing, accessing, or using the WhatsApp Services.”
    • Neither of these applications uses any APIs from the service. Further, the developers never agreed to the Terms of Service in the first place because they aren’t using any of their APIs.
  • “Reverse engineer, alter, modify, create derivative works from, decompile, or extract code from the WhatsApp Services.”
    • Neither of these applications is WhatsApp specific and make use of native Android APIs rather than any code from WhatsApp itself.
  • “Gain or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the WhatsApp Services or systems.”
    • By that logic, Android itself violates the ToS as it processes each notification and keeps a log of notifications.
  • “Collect the information of or about WhatsApp’s users in any impermissible or unauthorized manner”
    • The users explicitly download and install this app on their own.
  • “Sell, resell, rent, or charge for the WhatsApp Services”
    • The apps do not rent or sell access to the service. Both apps can’t function unless the original WhatsApp application is installed.
Nearly every claim in the letter is faulty or is too vague to address how the apps violate these terms."

Source: WhatsApp sends Cease & Desists for apps that use native Android APIs
 

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