Google has suspended the application from its store Downloader due to an accusation of copyright infringement by several Israeli television companies, since the browser that includes the ‘app’ can load a specific website that otherwise pirated contentwhich the developer calls “absurd” since it is something that all web browsers can do.
Downloader is an application that allows browse and download Internet files available for Android devices, so it can also be used on Smart TVs that have Android TV or Google TV. In this sense, users can use Downloader to browse the Internet from their television, since it includes a toolbar url from which to access any website, like a regular browser.
In this framework, the developer of the application has transferred its complaints through its website, after Downloader has been suspended from Google play for infringing copyright law (DMCA), according to a complaint filed by a law firm representing several Israeli television companies, including Yes TV and Hot TV.
Specifically, the complaint claims that, by being able to use Downloader as a Web navigator, users can upload websites that infringe the copyrights of their clients. Specifically, the complaint refers to a hacking website, the name of which has not been shared by the developer of the application.
That is, they accuse Downloader of being the guilty that users can access this piracy website and ensure that, therefore, it is in breach of copyright law. However, as the developer explains, the ‘app’ does not direct users to any specific website nor does it have any relationship with the piracy website.
“Any rational person would agree that a web browser cannot be blamed for the pirated content that exists on the internet, but that’s exactly what happened to my app,” the developer said.
Despite all this, Google has accepted the complaint and has suspended Downloader from Google Play, to which the creator of Downloader has underlined how inconsistent it is to disable a web browser for this reason since “Piracy exists on the open Internet”.
Following Google’s decision, the suspension of the application. However, “about an hour later” Google rejected the appeal and the application remains suspended.
For all these reasons, the developer has described as “absurd” the complaint of the Israeli television companies and the decision of Google, since the reasons that are alleged in the complaint are fulfilled in all web browsers and, if it were applied to all ‘apps’ that have a web browser, it would be they would end up suspending all browsers in android.
A second appeal is currently pending. Meanwhile, the creator of Downloader has indicated that users who already have the ‘app’ installed will be able to continue using it, but if they uninstall it “they will not be able to reinstall it from the Google Play Store”.
Likewise, he explained that the ‘app’ can be downloaded directly from its APK and that it is also available in the Amazon application store.