Hall of Shame

[zhanghai]

Pleaes help report these copycat apps on Google Play. I believe they are violating the Repetitive Content policy inside Play Developer Policy.

• File Manager Advanced - File Explorer by X-Gen.
• File Explorer FTP Server by Corproxy Innovation: Closed source, 50,000+ installs.
• File Manager Pro by Premium Quality Apps: Probably closed source (didn't purchase to check), paid app, 1,000+ installs
• File manager 2022 by Mobile tools: Probably closed source (didn't purchase to check), paid app, 1,000+ installs
• File manager 12 by Mobile tools: Probably closed source (didn't purchase to check), paid app, 100+ installs
• File Manager by AX Media player & Editor: Closed source (no open source info on Play or in app), modified UI, contains ads, 10,000+ installs. Author promised to release source code in the next build.

You can report these apps in Play store app with "Flag as inappropriate", or submit a report form online.

Thanks!

[GajenderY]

Submitted.

[slavoyar8601]

Submitted

[thgoebel]

Also, I think they violate your license (GPLv3) by not naming you as the original author and not open sourcing their modifications of the source code. (anyway, reported)

[gprst]

It seems that a request to "remove content from Google" regarding "copyright infringement" must be done by the author themselves.

I submitted a request report, but I think the app would be more likely to be removed from the Play Store if it had legal complaints.

[ssssamstrup]

Please advise to vote the app down in the post above. Submitted and voted the app 1-star with a comment telling about the copying. This way people will see it in the Play store.

[J-Jamet]

You must also install the application before putting 1 * otherwise the google algorithm considers the comment as spam.
Uninstall this pale copy right after obviously.

[abechief]

发现了新的抄袭者！
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=x.gen.android.files
以及它的高级版
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=x.genpro.android.files

[PrSunflower]

This is really a shame and very disrespectful 😡, I've flagged the clones as inappropriate.

Also, I think they violate your license (GPLv3) by not naming you as the original author and not open sourcing their modifications of the source code. (anyway, reported)

I was thinking about that too. Legally speaking, the GPL licences oblige publishing copies under the same license, don't they?

Side note: Sorry for the notification above. I copy/pasted the link to this issue in another completely different repository and I didn't know GitHub was going to mention it. I removed the link to this issue but the notification doesn't disappear, it can be deleted if you want.

[zhanghai]

Yes I believe they are not compliant with GPL, but IIRC Google Play asked me for a lawyer if I were to submit a copyright infringement form 😅

I won't be happy with people re-publishing this app mostly as-is, but with ads/paid version, even if they open source their app and comply with GPL anyway 🙃