New York Times alleges vague violations

A popular news reader for the iPad, Pulse, has been pulled from the App Store despite being featured in yesterday's WWDC keynote, reports note. Pulse displays a graphic grid of stories, making for a sometimes easier and more visually appealing presentation of RSS feeds. Since its release, the app has been downloaded over 35,000 times, and occasionally topped the list of paid titles at the App Store.

Despite being praised by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the app was removed yesterday following a complaint to Apple from the New York Times. "The New York Times Company believes your application named 'Pulse News Reader' infringes The New York Times Company’s rights," reads a message passed along to developers Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta. It is not clear which rights the app might be violating, as it draws on publicly available feeds without scraping.

The Times itself recently published a blog post in support of the app. Management could theoretically be worried about the app competing with New York Times Editors' Choice for the iPad, from which the newspaper earns advertising money. Regardless, Kothari says that he and Gupta are contacting Apple and hope to resubmit the app without NYT material.

by MacNN Staff