VLC Media Player, the mobile version of the popular, free and open source multimedia player could be pulled from the Apple iTunes App Store after complaints of licence infringement.
Rmi Denis-Courmont, a contributor to the VLC project, has filed a formal copyright complaint, calling for the application to be pulled.
“Today, a formal notification of copyright infringement was sent to Apple Inc. regarding distribution of the VLC media player for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. VLC media player is free software licensed solely under the terms of the open source GNU General Public License (a.k.a. GPL),” Denis-Courmont wrote on a mailing list.
“Those terms are contradicted by the products usage rules of the App Store through which Apple delivers applications to users of its mobile devices. At the time of writing, the infringing application is still available.
VLC Media Player from French based developer Applidium, reads almost every video file.
“VLC and open-source software in general would not have reached their current quality and success if it had not been for their license,” Denis-Courmont adds. “Therefore, blatant license violation cannot be tolerated at any rate. Concerned users are advised to look for application on more open mobile platforms for the time being.”
That opinion appears not to be shared by VideoLan, the team behind the VLC player. “So far, VLC is not going out of the App Store,” VideoLan notes on Twitter.
“Maybe the FSF should actually ask us our opinion instead of writing misleading articles about VLC.”
Available from the iTunes App Store, VLC Media Player is free and requires the iOS 3.2 Software Update or later. The application runs on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and the recent iPod touches only.
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