Look Familiar?

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July 8th, 2009 Posted by: (ELC) - posted under:Articles

Ok, so I was perusing the App Store the other day to stumble upon this gem of an application. See the screenshot below.

screenshot_01

If you have been on iCodeBlog before, you might recognize this “game” from a tutorial that I wrote about writing an iPhone game (link).  One thing to note here is the company name is BlaBlaIncTech (not iCodeBlog) meaning I did not submit this nor did I give permission to do so.  I find it interesting that someone has the guts to take a tutorial on iCodeBlog and submit it to the app store unmodified.

Not only was this VERY basic code meant to teach simple concepts, the graphics are absolutely atrocious as they were hacked together very quickly in Photoshop.  I actually find this quite hilarious that this guys expects me not to find out.

I wanted to highlight some of the great features noted by the “developer” of this application (Seen in the feature section of iTunes).

  • “It’s basic game design makes it a fun game for someone that doesn’t play alot of games” – WOW, emphasis on the BASIC.  This game is fun for no one as it sucks! It was meant as a teaching tool moron!
  • “Great Quality” – Are we looking at the same game?
  • “Easy (So easy your grandma can play)” – If you have the same taste in games as your grandma, you probably don’t own an iPhone.
  • “Almost no crashes” – hahahaha this is the best one. The keyword here is “Almost”.  Well, that does it, I’m sold!

So, if you want to scoop up this rad game, the link is here . I almost will pay him the $.99, just to make fun of him in the comments section.

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  • http://partialclass.blogspot.com Ken Pespisa

    I hear this dev is working on a follow-up app called iHelloWorld.

  • http://brandontreb.com Brandon

    hahahaha

  • YYZV

    Don’t forget iUITableView (Y)

    But seriously, that sucks. Trying to make money be selling someone else’s tutorial is ridiculous, and hopefully Apple will take it down :D

  • dw

    With literally millions of MacOS Touch devices out there it’s surprising anyone thought they could get away with it – unbelievable!

  • JD

    Haha, wow its a shame to see someone try to sell your great “TUTORIAL” as a game. Keep up the good work though I love reading these tutorials!

  • http://www.bit-101.com Keith Peters
  • Andy

    That is funny! I just started doing some of your tutorials, trying to get used to the syntax of objective C. I appreciate your hard work on this site and look forward to learning alot from your tutorials. Hell maybe one day I can steal one of your apps and put it up! JK!

  • http://www.picomangames.com Picoman

    Apple needs to take this down now! Im outraged that he has done this.

    Keep up the good work Brandon. I will support you if you need help convincing Apple to take this guy down.

  • http://www.iwantiphone.co.uk iWantiPhone

    Are you able to contact the iTunes store and get it removed? That’s totally shameless of the bloke.

    I haven’t seen the tutorial you mentioned but I’m interested in developing iPhone apps so will give it a go.

  • http:/www.cjmillisock.com CJ Millisock

    HA! I used this tennis app as my very first tutorial when learning to code for iPhone. I can’t believe some joker tried to steal it!

    Like Picoman said, I will support you if Apple needs convincing to take this guy down.

    What a chump!

  • http://www.logyourrun.com tim

    Apple must be sleeping – I cannot believe that they let an app through with a feature of “Almost no crashes”. That is ridiculous. I wonder how many he sold.

  • http://www.jameskilton.com Jason

    For the record, here’s that “company”‘s website:

    http://blablainctech.webs.com/

    They’re pretty darn proud of this application.

  • Emilian Bold

    I fail to understand how this is “stealing” or requires your permission. I assume you’ve put the tutorial online for people to learn. Also, you provided your code for people to download and use freely.

    I can’t actually find any license information on this website to see how may people actually use that tutorial, but I did find a “Copyright __MyCompanyName__ 2009. All rights reserved.” in your source code. I guess __MyCompanyName__ should start and sue those trespassers ?

    Really, take it as a compliment, it’s not like you lost you chance at 1 million bucks :-)

  • http://brandontreb.com Brandon

    @Emilian Bold – does your company name happen to be Blablainctech by any chance?

    haha but you are right, I should prob have a copyright somewhere. I’m not too mad about this, just think it’s hilarious.

  • http://www.lethain.com Will Larson

    The Lunar Lander demo from the original Apple SDK was submitted by someone else and was a top free (ok, free, not paid, I admit is slightly different…) download for at least a few weeks. I’m not sure if Apple ever took it down.

  • Brendan

    This mook needs to be taken out in the alley, and learn’t some manners, old school…

    Imagine going to sleep the night he submitted this, knowing you stole from the guy who runs one of the premiere iPhone programming sources on the web. Good news travels, but news of a thief among the development community will travel mighty fast. Pay back’s a bitch.

  • Jeremy
  • http://www.objectmethod.it ivan rosina

    Wow finally I can download from AppStore !
    Thanks a lot BlaBlaInc !

  • http://www.unisynergygroup.com Eric Wilson

    What a LOSER!!!

  • Gregor

    haha such a pussy muahah

  • http://omlog.wordpress.com/ Oliver

    By the looks of their website (e.g. http://blablainctech.webs.com/betatesters.htm) they’re a couple of illiterate 14 year olds…

  • Phil

    very cheeky indeed, I was going to leave a bad review then I realised that I would need to pay for it first (I dont think so), although I did find this email address on the support site “blablaincsupport@gmail.com”

  • K626

    It’s copyright infringement. Publishing it “for everyone to see” means nothing. A newspaper is published. Does that mean you can take the copy? Of course not. Software code is protected under the same laws. The question is: Did the original author put it into the public domain?

  • Suw Mirage

    You know what is really pathetic?

    Back when the iPhone SDK 1.0 beta was out, there was a sample game in it called Lunar Lander. It was a crappy game, horrible, even.

    A company called Posimotion took that game, didn’t change any of the code, just changed the graphics and the sound effects, and submitted it as Apache Lander.

    The company founder goes around saying that Apache Lander is the game he is most proud of. What a f@$@$%g poser.

  • RalphieBot

    HAHA. I like how the company also rates their own apps using the name blablakrap. What a fail.

  • http://www.appstoremod.com AppStoreMod

    Dude !!!!! This guy is full of shit ! He made a paid fred app for $0.99 and its only a UIWebView of his youtube video. When you can go on safari http://bit.ly/1oZHkn

  • Mikeman118

    @Suw Mirage

    Well, I don’t know about what the guy said about Lunar Landing afterward, but I was around when this occurred, and the guy did explain that it was and Apple demo and not his, he just thought it was a fun game that someone might like. And it was free.

    However, if what you said is true, that is just shameful.

  • Baskaran

    BlahBlah Inc is very lame and shameless. BlahBlah Inc Should file for Chapter 7.

  • MusicoLoco

    Hi, I’ve been following the excellent tutorial series from this blog, and just now I decided to post this comment seeing as how this is such an outrage. Other posters before me are correct, the fact that no copyright was claimed is not enough cause to take the code and publish it as your own, for profit!!! You can request this app to be taken down. Personally, if i could, I would seek the thief and have him hanged by the balls.

  • Andres

    hey everyone go to http://www.ManufacturingCrossing.com
    they wont steal your apps ;]

  • http://www.daydaysite.com DayDaySite

    Hi Brandon,

    I feel shame on this guy!! I learn so much from your tutorial! After I read your tutorial, I can write a simple game running on my iPhone… Really thanks for your hard work!!

    Did you compliant them to Apple? It is a shame for all developers…

  • rebo

    Not only should you get apple to remove it from the store you should demand compensation and all profits gained from the sale of that app.

  • http://www.vitalybokser.com vitaly

    WOW!!!! This guy is a D**K with a capital D.
    Keep up the good work man, love the tutorial.

  • worldsSmallestViolin

    I just looked closely at that website, Im betting the owner is literally a 12 year old kid.

    if that is the case simply getting an appto compile and on the store is something of an achievement.

    There is a copyright issue, and the kid needs to learn about those, but dont beat him up too much either.

  • Bryan

    The owner of BlaBlaIncTech is “Peter Sheen.” I paid the buck to give it 1 star and write a review. The iTunes receipt spit out that name.

  • Pingback: Developer Steals iPhone App Code, Submits As Own | KRAPPS | a different and funny iPhone app review site

  • Robert

    You should sue him.

  • Brendan G.

    Great article…nice to see the word getting around. Peter Sheen (BlaBlaIncTech), needs to do the right thing, or prepare to be made a pariah in the development community.

    Painting a narrative of him as some poor dumb kid doesn’t fly. Kid, middle-aged guy, or billy goat, we are all responsible for our actions, and if he is given the space to make things right, and chooses not to, well, game, set, match.

  • http://KRAPPS.com KRAPPS

    Here’s our “take” on the imposter …

    Developer Steals iPhone App Code, Submits As Own –> http://krapps.com/2009/07/09/itennis-iphone-app/

  • WP

    Thanks for taking this with humour! Whoever did this is a total hoser, taking the high road and laughing it off shows a lot of class! I salute you, sir!

  • lil

    Well looks like the infamous Khalid Shaikh got a hold of it also http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=318696679&mt=8 and is charging $4.99 I mean after all he did change the tennis racket.

  • Suw Mirage

    @Mikeman118,

    We are talking about two different people.

    You’re talking about a guy that put Lunar Lander on the App Store with no changes, for free.

    I’m talking about a company called Posimotion, who took Lunar Lander, called it Apache Lander, and sell it on the App Store for up to 1.99 (it’s free this month because of a company wide sale.) The company founder likes to say it is the game he is most proud of. All they did was change the graphics and sounds.

  • cynik

    Thanks for the tutorials, they are much appreciated.

    This whole issue with the guy selling the game is pretty funny. I guess some people are creative and like to share, and other people are fixated by any possible way to make a buck.

    I know which one I would rather be, so I’m inclined to say “there but for the grace of god go I”, and laugh.

    A much more serious problem is modern copywrite law. Modern copywrite law has made the act of sharing a crime. It is incredibly perverse. You have these massive corporations who became incredibly rich by exploiting technology that could capture sound and images. So they made all their money because new technology arrived in the world, and they were free to take advantage of it. But then more new technology arrives, and it benefits ordinary people, and takes away the profits from the mega corporations. So the corporations change the law, to make sharing illegal, because to their point of view they are simply entitled to huge profits. They are happy for free technology to give them profits, but the squeal like hell if free technology takes the profits away.

  • Lia

    Haha. The first reviewer is the programmer himself/herself.

    written by “blablakrap” and the hack’s name is BlaBlaInc Tech.

  • Aaryan

    nice one, continue with new games ….
    Have you hard about Q Mahjong a China game.
    if possible include in ur Forum

    thanks

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  • http://www.metzener.com/davemblog/ Dave M.

    This isn’t the only case of someone copying code and selling it as their own. A while back I came across an exact copy of the Apple Metronome sample being sold for $0.99 by some developer. I emailed Apple about it, since I figured that they wouldn’t want someone making money off of their code. I must have been correct since I can’t find the $0.99 app in the AppStore anymore.

    There is still the Free app Metronome that admits it’s the sample code. Since he’s giving it away and claims Apple says it should be distributed, I figured that if Apple wants it gone, they can remove it too.

    If I were you, I would write to Apple letting them know that you are the copyright holder of the code being used by this app. Odds are, they won’t do anything, but they might remove it from the store. No point in someone making $100 or so with code they didn’t write. It’s only a few minutes of your time, and this scummy developer shouldn’t be allowed to sell your work.

    Did you notice that there is a 5 star review by someone named ‘blablakrap’? Notice that this reviewer has giving a 5 star rating to another of this developers apps? This seems to be a trend that I hope Apple will soon put a stop to. Although how they would go about doing so is hard for me to figure out. The reviewer is either the developer or someone the developer has asked to do so.

    Either way, it’s something I check on before I purchase an app these days. If there are 5 star reviews by someone who also reviews other apps from the same developer with 5 star reviews, I pretty much ignore those reviews and stick to ones that look more genuine.

  • http://return7.com Amro

    What a jerk.. >.<

  • Kevin

    Tempting to buy it and ask for a refund just so he is out the 30% he will owe Apple.

  • http://www.litebeam.net Bas Meijer

    Brandon,

    you publish your code on the web for people to learn. This guy understood that he could earn a buck by publishing the same code in the store. So what? Next time just release your code as an app in the store and sell the source too, just like the cocos-2d guys do, and make a buck yourself. Also bear in mind that you puslished a critique of your own code in your post looks familiar?

    if the code is not right, it is not right, whether you post it or someone else, on your back. the code should stand on its own, regardless of your ego issues. And when someone runs away with it, you should show grandness and applaud their effort.

  • Ben

    Is this blahblah trying to get a job at Psystar?

  • Picoman

    After thinking about this for a while… Im starting to think what the hell are the Apple approvers are up to?! I am studying hard everyday after a 10 hour shift at work in order to make some kick ass apps… but maybe i dont have to put much effort in anymore… not if this is happening…

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  • http://digg.com/apple/Lifted_tutorial_code_winds_up_in_0_99_App_Store_tennis_game [Digg] Lifted tutorial code winds up in $0.99 App Store tennis game

    iPhone game tutorial from iCodeBlog compiled and submitted to the iTunes App Store as a paid app.

  • AC

    Hahahaha, look at Social Butterfly. It’s 11 webapps shoved in a UITabBarController, with a thick layer of atrocious grammar on top.

    The description is the best part. “The interface that your used to.” First of all, my used to? And secondly: of course it is, you moron, it’s the mobile version of the same fricking site

    And there’s only one review, which seems to find the app absolutely fantastic. The fact that the reviewer’s name is blablakrap is completely unrelated :)

  • http://www.bobbleheadmonkeysoftware.com Lon Varscsak

    Now I see why Apple has been behind in approving apps! When you have 10000 tennis apps to publish, it takes time! ;)

  • http://web.me.com/ldaume Lenny

    Haha, I post something like shame on you and a poor bad life in their forum and got a mail a few minutes before.

    Hello lny ,

    Uhh Ohh it looks like you have used profanity On our site Please dont let this happen again!

    3/5 warnings!

    http://blablainctech.webs.com/

    Regards,

    blablainctech

    To unsubscribe from these mailings, click here: Please unsubscribe me

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  • Anon

    I thought you might want to check this one out too…

    http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=320129469&mt=8

  • http://www.pixeltopia.co.uk Dave

    There are always going to be unscrupulous people out there, but I don’t think it should stop people from doing the right thing and offering examples and help. The only people who look stupid in this situation are the guys who thought they could release someone else’s tutorial code.

    I doubt whether they fully understood your tutorial code anyway, otherwise they would have taken the concepts and made a different game.

    I think you should turn the situation into a positive one and turn it into an open competition to see how many variations of your Tennis game can be submitted to Apple by different people (for free of course, with a link to your blog.)

    Or, why not just polish up the tutorial and release it yourself for free, just to teach them a lesson ?

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  • http://www.smackall.com Harishankar

    You tutorials helps me and our team a lot. And you deserve a lot of thanks for that. We just figured it out that you site has some funny posts too. It was a great fun reading this post. However seems like Apple has taken down the game otherwise, I would’ve bought it… ;)

    cheers.

  • MusicoLoco

    The game has been taken of the store. I guess Apple noticed the theft, or the brat couldn’t take the thousands of spam messages that flooded his support board and called it quits.

    Peter Sheen will have a really hard time gaining back a decent reputation (if he ever had one). Let it be known, that anything that is created and distributed for free on the internet is still under copyright law protection, unless the author explicitly states it is in the public domain.

    Peter Sheen and his crappy company are in my ‘Not Cool’ list from now on.

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  • lil

    Seriously… what’s going on here? Here’s another! http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=314866967&mt=8 Brandon, I think from here on out you have to copyright any source you hand out here. :(

    ~t

  • BlaBlaTechInc forum sign-up
  • http://omlog.wordpress.com/ Oliver

    Apart from the app, his website has also disappeared…

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  • http://www.lotuslandstudios.com Tom Schulz

    Don’t sweat the small stuff, I recommend. You were never going to sell that app, the thief is never going to make any money, and your *real* code/apps are beyond such people’s reach anyway.

    Usually by the time biters have bitten the edge has moved onward.

  • http://www.odiesoft.de Georg Odenthal

    Hi,

    I’m currently doing your tutorial on iTennis and read about that guy who published it in the AppStore.

    I was taking a look at the AppStore to see whether the stolen App is still online, which it isn’t.

    But I found a game called “iTennisGame” by some guy called Khalid Shaikh which looks strikingly similar to iTennis…

    Maybe you want to double check that as well.

    Oh and thanks for this great tutorial! Keep up the good work!

    Cheers,
    Georg aka Odiesoft

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  • http://- Werner Marinus

    I can’t find the app in the store anymore, their website is “under construction”, the post and forum mentioned above is no longer available… Seems someone left town in a hurry!

    And now, if you would please excuse me: I have some apps to build and sell. One is a shopping list with SQLite, another is a Twitter client, a third one is about saving users settings… Uhm, lets see, what else did Brandon teach us here that we can steal… ;-)

    Keep up the good work Brandon!

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  • anonymous

    This is really crazy. Not only does the person take your code exactly and out it on the app store, but he leaves out the splash screen :) . He could have given you at least a little bit of credit.

    And have you seen his website??? He’s using webs.com for a free site!! And the support email is using gmail!! How could he expect to make money if his potential buyers see how much money he invested in his company (which is none).

    But it is good he has taken it down now. R.I.P. for the iTennis rip-off.

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  • davee

    Ah, the grand old Microsoft marketing model at work.

    Look out Microsoft, the hounds are nipping at your heels.

    lol

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  • xD-Dunce

    http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=322562866&mt=8

    looks like another rip off.

    They didn’t even change the colour of the net’s shadow. its still pink!

    Just thought you might want to check them out.

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  • @ColouredBoxMobi

    @EMILIAN WOOD

    LOL YOU NEED TO BE REMOVED FROM THIS BLOG WITH A COMMENT LIKE THAT GIRL

    Brandon put time into his tutorial regardless of copyright inifringements. I think you should given him 99 cents for every iTennis download.. hahaha

  • http://chrissheldrick.com Chris Sheldrick

    I was looking on the app store for the company “BlaBlaIncTech” and I found three twitter apps by this “dev” all claiming to be the fastest ever. Anyway the one kind of resembled the turorial.

  • Andy Zimmerman

    Hi. I was wondering if I could use your coding and images but yet say in the description, comments in the code, to apple that you created the original code and images? I will make it free (unless you want it to cost money).
    Tell me what you think,
    Andy Zimmerman

  • manicaesar

    Once again someone has used your tutorial: Search for Pong MMX game… But this time it seems, that the developer added some ‘more’ funcionality ;)

  • ashish

    There should be some agreement before downloading the tutorial code. So that any illegal piracy or steal can be prevented and and case can filed easily against the culprit.

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  • http://supertecnoboff.uuuq.com SUPERTECNOBOFF

    OMG! Why an earth would they copy your app. And second of all, why an earth did Apple accept this app in the first place, it looks crap! (No offence just saying…. the obvious). I cant believe someone would be so stupid as to copy and obvious app and not even bother changing that design even the slightest bit!

  • http://supertecnoboff.uuuq.com SUPERTECNOBOFF

    What a complete and utter DUMBASS!

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  • johnmabassa

    iCodeBlog was the first tutorial site that I referred when i started learning iPhone. Its sad to hear that someone lifted the code …….. nyways don’t stop putting in new tutorials.

    -John

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  • http://www.worldoftrade.com/ Rolex Sea Dweller

    Pretty good post, this is one of the best articles that I have ever seen! This is a great site and I have to congratulate you on the content.
    I appreciate it!

    Nice, and thanks for sharing this info with us.
    Good Luck!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=215900891 PJ Perretta

    Hahaha wow what a moron.  Very nice blog btw!

  • AndiSHFR

    I wonder if the guy would have upped it to app store if the tutor did not contain any graphics at all. From a point of understanding programming technics the images you quickly hacked in Photoshop are unrelevant. A very impudent moron. Maybe put some copyright into the images next time (like they overlay on ebay or elsewhere). i.e. (“…stolen at iCode[blog]). ;-) Keep the good work…

  • Eagle11

    That’s pretty funny. I’ve had people do the same thing with one of my tutorials. It’s amazing how stupid some people are.

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