Multiple podcasts, including Twins podcast “Gleeman and the Geek” (hosted by HardballTalk’s own Aaron Gleeman), another Twins podcast “Talk to Contact,” Pirates podcast “Pirates Prospects,” Mets podcast “Mets Musings,” Cubs podcast “Bleacher Nation,” Yankees podcast “It’s About the Yankees, Stupid,” Rangers Podcast “Rangers Podcast in Arlington” and several others were removed from iTunes.
This is odd. MLBAM released a statement saying they didn’t ask for the podcasts to be removed, but did ask for trademark issues to be resolved.
Why is it odd.
Apple’s mechanism for any dispute is to remove offending content.
If MLB has problem they shouldn’t be complaining to Apple.
They don’t care. Apple is not a court system.
This. A takedown notice from the authority is obeyed. If MLB wanted a different resolution, they probably shouldn’t’ve sent takedown notices.
(And then acted surprised when they were obeyed.)
The way Apple resolves this – when they receive a complaint – is that they send an email to the author (app and I guess also the podcast), add in the text of the complaint, add the person who filed it into CC and say “please resolve this on your own and let us know the outcome”.
Usually, if it’s a trademark or copyright complaint, they will also add instructions on removing the app from sale if the author decides to do that. In my experience, they don’t proactively remove the apps. Not sure about podcasts, maybe it’s a different process.
It’s not like the podcast goes away. Apple doesn’t host the podcast or the RSS feed, it just provides a directory.
However, it’s the most widely used podcast directory, so that does have an effect on subscriptions.