Apple's iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, the contract that the company requires iPhone developers to accept, came under fire this week when the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a cyber rights advocacy group, posted a critique of the document. The EFF characterizes the Agreement as "a very one-sided contract" and Apple as "a jealous and arbitrary feudal lord" intent on protecting itself from competition. With the upcoming release of the iPad and an imminent U.S. Copyright Office ruling on the legality of "jail-breaking," the organization is urging developers to demand better terms and Apple customers to support those demands. While Apple's contract does contain some unusual and arguably unnecessary restrictions -- like prohibiting developers from discussing the terms of the Agreement -- one-sided contracts aren't unusual. Even the EFF concedes as much. Apple's power to set the terms under which developers and consumer are able to use its software and hardware is a function of demand -- if the majority of developers or customers were unhappy, they could abandon the iPhone ecosystem for something better. The fact that they don't suggests the alternatives are wanting. Yet the contractual terms under which iPhone developers have to operate may be noteworthy more for the risk they represent to developers than for their abrogation of free speech rights. At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Vernon Law Group attorney Mark Methenitis discussed the iPhone Developer License Agreement, the Registered iPhone Developer Agreement, and several related legal documents that iPhone developers have all accepted but few have read.For further: www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223500026
