My app got suspended from Google Play , now what ?

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Well , What I was afraid of has happened
Google terminated my account for the second violation of the IPR ,
So I think we need to create a club for the banned account owners :slight_smile:
Anyway , I was very upset but hey , this could be an opportunity for something new , no I have nothing to fear
I am now studying all the requirements to create a new account ,
One thing that I have searched for hours is the virtual visa card , i could not locate a trusted site to get one
Can you guys advise about a trusted site to get a virtual card from , and it should accept payment with nun USA visa card …
I will try to sort out the other things and rewrite my popular apps and see what happens

I agree - Virtual Visa sites are a pain to find. There are so many illegitimate sites which turn up in a Google search. If you’re just looking for a card to use once (e.g. to verify an online account) you could use a prepaid visa card. These are available for purchase at the post office & various stores here in Australia.

If you want a proper virtual visa card though, I recommend EntroPay. It takes a while to get setup (you need to provide verification documents) but I can confirm they are reliable & secure. You can create multiple cards, and reload them using any actual credit card. I use them all the time, when I don’t trust a site with my real credit card details, or if I want to limit the amount of money a company can debit from the card.

Thank you David for your reply ,
Actually we dont have the prepaid cards in my country , you have to open a bank account to get one ,
So with EntroPay are you able to write fake names on the card or it is anonymous ?
and have you tried it with Google ?
I do not want to go to the lenthy process then google rejects it …

I am very confused right now , and my revenue already dropped massively today .

Anyone from the banned Account members , Could you help please …

Thanks again

Have you tried to use freelancers to buy one for you? I have seen users on freelancer sites paying for google play developer accounts, either ready one or request for one with some email address.

Go to Elance and make a post that says “Paying $85 for approved Google Play account.” People will come out of the woodwork!

85$ :open_mouth:

I am paying 30-35$.

With EntroPay you can use any name & address with the virtual card. You have to sign up for an account using your real details (they will validate your ID), but once you have an account you can create any number of virtual cards to use with any name/address.

I haven’t actually tried it with Google, but I’m 99% certain that the EntroPay cards will work. Even Paypal accepts them, and they have a reputation for being picky about everything being valid & correct.

Please note - I’m not recommending you sign up for a Google Play account (or anything else for that matter) using fake details. This could be against the TOS, and if that’s the case I definitely wouldn’t recommend it. I’m just sharing my experience with virtual visa cards, as I have found them to be incredibly useful for a number of legitimate uses. Make sure you’re aware of the implications though, before using a virtual card with an identity other than your own.

Bah! Nice man, I’m getting ripped off. You need to introduce me to your guy!

You mentioned previously that one of your apps involved a cartoon character that was copyrighted by the producers. So even if you rewrote the app, if you are still using any kind of images or app description associated with that cartoon character then you will probably be banned again.

Was it a Disney character?

Thanks All for sharing
And to complete the picture , they just suspended my Admob account too which had about 6500 $ and it is gone now …
Currently my daily income dropped to 20% …

So I have no way than create another account .

About the suspension reason , Yes it was a Disney character but I can still see similar apps in the market with the same character …

For now. They will be banned sooner or later.

I had a Spongebob app and today was removed from market, I think that they are removing as soon as they are receiving request from the owners, and the owners are who send the list of apps to remove, seems a monthly task, so if there are still apps out there surely next month will be down.

I 'm curious why this kind of focus in the apps? why they’re not doing the same in youtube? copyright infringement in android is worst than youtube?

Pharoah, did Admob send you your Nov payment before you got banned? sucks that your current balance is gone.

Spongebob is owned by Viacom, so best to avoid anything that comes under their umbrella. Speaking of YouTube back in 2007 Viacom sent YouTube over 100,000 DMCA takedown notices. That was due to all of the unauthorized Viacom clips that users had uploaded. Viacom then filed a US$1B lawsuit against Google, but Google managed to weasel their way out of it because of some provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Getting back to Google Play, I think part of the problem is that they allow any type of app to be submitted and no one is checking it for compliancy. Am wondering whether Apple does that as part of their submission process?

Great question, I wonder that too.

Anything too blatant I’m sure they deny. But I’m sure they don’t catch everything though (like x graphic from y site). I do wonder how they handle account bans if it happens. Is it for life like Google?

Also we can’t blame Google for some bans, as they’re just protecting themselves. If they get a DMCA they almost never question it (although they do, I’ve had one denied I filed). It’s much easier to ban a Dev making X dollars then to lose xx dollars being sued.

But some bans are ridiculous. And the sad part is indy devs aren’t going to hire a lawyer to argue “fair use” for some of the questionable bans. I won’t explain it in detail here, but you can use copyrighted material in some instances per US law.

IMO If your app was a game or learning tool featuring Disney characters then that’s not fair use. If it was a guide for a Spongebob game, fan app, or informational app, then it’s OK. I mean, I look at Wikia, and Wikipedia. But that’s just my interpretation and I know the people that review Google Play apps probably follow a black and white protocol.

Also app bans are not all DMCA takedowns. I know this for a fact. So a lot of the time it’s up to Jo Shmo, working at Google whether your app is legit. I highly doubt Google has IP lawyers to review each and every app.

So anyone know if Entropay works with getting publisher accounts?

What constitutes “fair use”.

I see a number of movie soundboards - those are using images and audio direct from the movies - so I guess that is obviously not fair use.

A game that features a character in a similar way to that used in cartoons would also be infrining on the original use of that character.

As some said - parody of a character would be fair use. There the app is adding some extra stuff not originally contributed by the character.

What about the voice changers - they are providing an extra functionality that is not related to the original chacters - would use of an image of the character be fair use ?

I have seen some apps modify the character’s name somewhat. But one would think if the app is designed to allow people to mimic a character that it would be fair use to use their name - and possibly an image that looks like the original ?

I think use of the name - if it describes the actions of an app maybe legitimate use - though use of video and perhaps original images may be construed and “needless” extra use - when just name would suffice to indicate the performance of the app.

So would use of a (modified) image be fair use in such an app ?

Just a note: those who can now comments on user reviews beware. You can be banned for a bad comment from what I’ve read.