Apple forces product-tracker website to shutdown

Apple forces product-tracker website to shutdown

There was a time when Apple fanatics could bypass the crazy queues and get their hands on the latest Apple products: Apple-tracker.com.

Created by a web developer who goes by the alias Mordy, apple-tracker.com, as the name suggests, tracks the availability of Apple products and helped users to narrow their search using zip codes.

The site even offered a filter for the different Apple models and network carriers.

However, this site raised the ire of Apple and its lawyers issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) takedown notice, stating that it is "in violation of the apple.com Internet Service Terms of Use and Heroku Acceptable Use Policy".

In a final update entitled "goodbye" on the website, Mordy said that he is "not really interested in picking a fight with Apple so..... I guess it's time to just say good bye."

grongloh@sph.com.sg

Here is the full message from Mordy:

Good Bye

I've decided to turn off the site. I'm not doing this because I want to, but rather because I received a DMCA takedown notice (you can see the full text below) from Apple.

I'm not really interested in picking a fight with apple so..... I guess it's time to just say good bye.

Before I go though I just wanted to says thanks to all of you for the nice comments and emails that you've sent in the last few weeks.

It was fun while it lasted.

Mordy

DMCA Takedown Notice

321 11th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Takedown Notice

Date: October 17, 2013

Dear Heroku Legal Agent:

I, the undersigned, state UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY that:

[1] I am, a person injured, or an agent authorised to act on behalf of a person injured by unlawful web content published via and at heroku.com

[2] I May Be Contacted At:

Name of Injured Party : APPLE INC.

Name and Title: RYAN BRICKER, ASSOCIATE

Company: KILPATRICK TOWNSEND AND STOCKTON LLP

Address: TWO EMBARCADERO CENTER, 8TH FLOOR

City, State, and Zip: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94111

Email address APPLE_COPYRIGHT@KILPATRICKTOWNSEND.COM

Telephone: 415-576-0200

Fax: 415-576-0300

[3] I have a good faith belief that the the website identified by URL below is unlawful because, among other things, the page scrapes and collects data from apple.com in violation of the apple.com Internet Service Terms of Use (see: http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) and Heroku Acceptable Use Policy, copied here:

Apple.com Terms of Use

Your Use of the Site. You may not use any "deep-link", "page-scrape", "robot", "spider" or other automatic device, programme, algorithm or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process, to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the Site or any Content, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site or any Content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not purposely made available through the Site. Apple reserves the right to bar any such activity.

Heroku Acceptable Use Policy

2.2 Your use of the Heroku Services must comply with all applicable laws, regulations and ordinances, including any laws regarding the export of data or software.

[4] Reason:

Content Type / Violation: Automated scraping/copying/acquiring web app, operating in violation of the apple.com Internet Service Terms of Use

[5] Please act expeditiously to remove or otherwise disable the following website/web application:

http://iphone-check.herokuapp.com/

[6] I have a good faith belief that the removal of copyright management information from the material listed above is not authorised by law; and

[7] The information in this notice is accurate.

Thank you for your kind assistance.

Truthfully,

/Ryan Bricker/

Ryan Bricker Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP Eighth Floor | Two Embarcadero Center | San Francisco, CA 94111 office 415 273 4368 | fax 415 354 3467 rbricker@kilpatricktownsend.com | My Profile (http://www.kilpatricktownsend.com/en/Who per cent20We per cent20Are/Professionals/B/BrickerRyanT15273.aspx) | vCard (http://www.kilpatricktownsend.com/_assets/vcards/professionals/BrickerRyanT.vcf)

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