Google has removed the app Downloader from its official store
The platform stated that this action was taken in response to a copyright infringement by several Israeli television companies
Google has suspended the Downloader app from its application store due to an accusation of copyright infringement by several Israeli television companies. The included browser in the app can load a specific website that contains pirated content, which the developer considers “absurd” since it is something that all web browsers can do.
Downloader is an application that allows browsing and downloading files from the internet, available for Android devices, and can also be used on Smart TVs with Android TV or Google TV. Users can utilize Downloader to browse the internet on their televisions, as it includes a URL bar for accessing any website, similar to a regular browser.
In response to this situation, the app developer has expressed their complaints on their website after Downloader was suspended from Google Play for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), based on a complaint filed by a law firm representing several Israeli television companies such as Yes TV and Hot TV.
The complaint specifically alleges that by using Downloader as a web browser, users can create websites that infringe upon the copyright of their clients. The complaint refers to a specific piracy website, but the app developer has not disclosed its name.
Essentially, Downloader is accused of enabling users to access this piracy website and is therefore accused of copyright infringement. However, as the developer explains, the app does not direct users to any specific website nor has any relationship with the piracy website.
“Any rational person would agree that you can’t blame a web browser for pirated content that exists on the internet, but that’s exactly what happened to my app,” expressed the developer.
Despite all this, Google accepted the complaint and suspended Downloader from Google Play, prompting the creator of Downloader to highlight the inconsistency of disabling a web browser for this reason, as “piracy exists on the open internet.”
K. Tovar
Source: TorrentFreak
(Reference image source: Firmbee.com, Unsplash)
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