7

I work as a software developer and was contracted by a hospital to develop an app. I purchased the Apple Developer Program to upload the app, but Apple rejected it saying that the developer certificate name does not comply with section 5.2.1 of the PLA:

Since your app is specifically for a medical institution, it should be submitted under an account that reflects the name of the medical institution. Your app is currently submitted under an individual account that reflects your name, “AMAN ULLAH TANVEER.” To comply with section 5.2.1 of the PLA, your app should be submitted by an account that reflects "Saifee Hospital Karachi.”

To request an update to the company name or entity type associated with this Apple Developer Program account, the Team Agent will need to contact Apple Developer Support to request an update to the company name. On the Contact Us page, select "Membership and Account," then "Organization Name Change" to make this request

I then asked Apple to change my account type from individual to company. Apple reject my appeal by saying you are not the founder of XYZ company.

Thank you for contacting Apple Developer Program Support regarding migrating to an organization membership.

We are unable to proceed with the migration because you do not meet our migration requirements:

• The owner of the individual account must be the founder or cofounder of the organization.

Though only founders or cofounders are eligible for migration, your organization can enroll separately into the Apple Developer Program. After the enrollment is complete, it is possible to transfer apps to the organization membership. See the App transfer overview for details.

When asked for a refund, Apple denied by saying the developer program fees are non-refundable.

I apologize for the inconvenience you may have experienced, unfortunately we are unable to process this credit due to our no-refund purchase terms. You can view these terms within the Program License Agreement located in Membership > Show Agreements at the Apple Developer website.

When asked apple if I change the name of my application to something generic removing the words "Hospital" from it

Thank you for contacting the App Review Board. However, changing the name of your application does not resolve the 5.2.1 issue. Since your app is specifically for a medical institution, it should be submitted under an account that reflects the name of the medical institution.

Please refer to our previous correspondence for details on how to resolve the issues we identified during our review. It would be appropriate to revise your app to ensure it is compliant with our guidelines prior to resubmitting it for review.

Can someone explain who needs to apply for the developer program?

Is my money totally lost?

Community
  • 1
Amanullah Tanweer
  • 79
  • Wow - great edits to turn this around. Thanks for asking here – bmike Sep 18 '19 at 18:18
  • @amanullahtanweer Could you provide some details on the app, you're trying to get approved? Is it an app to be used by staff at a specific hospital? or what is it? - And who's your client? - is it the hospital? - or someone unrelated? – jksoegaard Sep 18 '19 at 19:21
  • 1
    The application is for the public, having doctors schedule and some news/updates from the Wordpress API. – Amanullah Tanweer Sep 18 '19 at 19:59
  • @AmanullahTanweer Please explain in more detail - who are you making this app for? - Is it something you have decided to make yourself and doing alone? - or is someone paying you to create this app? ... Do you have an agreement with the people who own that Wordpress API? – jksoegaard Sep 18 '19 at 22:15
  • Yes i have all the agreements. I actually own the domain name as well. I have tried servel times trying to explain this to apple but looks like some standrard automated reply i get always – Amanullah Tanweer Sep 19 '19 at 07:13
  • @AmanullahTanweer You're not really answering my questions, so it's very difficult to help you. Who domains a domain name is not important. The important bit is: Are you making this app for someone else? - Is someone else paying you to create this app? – jksoegaard Sep 19 '19 at 08:45
  • Have the hospital register a company developer account and have them provide you the credentials to submit it on their behalf. – Ryan McDonough Sep 19 '19 at 09:08
  • @jksoegaard I am making this application for a client which is a hospital. Yes, that hospital is paying me for the application. – Amanullah Tanweer Sep 19 '19 at 10:07
  • @RyanMcDonough Yes, that is what I am doing right now asking the hospital to register another certificate. But my personal developer account is useless for me and it's a big mistake to register it having a non-refundable policy – Amanullah Tanweer Sep 19 '19 at 10:09
  • In this case the hospital needs to enter into the program with Apple. Then they add you as a user under their account with access to upload the app. And yes, it was a big mistake that you registered you own account - that is clearly explained by Apple that you’re not supposed to be doing. Nothing to do about it then. – jksoegaard Sep 19 '19 at 11:41
  • @AmanullahTanweer you won't get the money back so it's best to chalk this up as an expensive mistake, we've all had one before, it sucks but you'll know better the next time you face this issue. – Ryan McDonough Sep 19 '19 at 11:56
  • @RyanMcDonough So this means should I consider this as. ONE Developer Certificate Per Organization. I have seen many application on the store with different ownership name, don't know if this is a recent change – Amanullah Tanweer Sep 19 '19 at 16:27
  • @AmanullahTanweer Can you explain what you mean a bit more elaborate? - This is not a recent change - it has been like this for years. You can definitely release multiple apps under one agreement as one company - and obviously multiple companies can release multiple apps. As for the number of developer certificates - you can create as many as you like. You can also share one certificate between multiple developers if you want. – jksoegaard Sep 19 '19 at 21:13
  • If a company is a reasonable size (e.g a hospital) then yes I would suggest requesting they make their own apple account and publish it through that rather than your personal account. – Ryan McDonough Sep 20 '19 at 07:37

2 Answers2

6

I think you have some things mixed up:

The developer agreement is between Apple and the seller of the app (free apps are also regarded as being sold on the App Store). It is not between Apple and whomever actually makes the app.

If you're an individual making and selling an app, you need an "Individual" account with Apple. The name of the seller on the App Store is then your given name. The name of the app itself can be anything - it doesn't have to be your name.

If you're working for a corporation developing an app to go on the App Store, the corporation needs a "Company" account with Apple. This agreement can be made by anyone authorized to sign the documents for the company - for smaller companies this is usually the director. This also applies if you're both the developer, owner and director of the company.

If you're developing an app for a client and they're going to release it on the App Store - then that client needs to enter the agreement with Apple. Either as an Individual or as a Company depending on who your client is. You yourself needs no agreement with Apple at all.

In your specific case, the app is not going to be sold by you - rather it is going to be sold by your client - the hospital. Therefore the hospital needs to apply and enter into the Apple Developer Program. When they have done that, they can create a user account for you with developer access, so that you can upload the app for approval by Apple.

The specific part of section 5.2.1 that you're in violation of is:

Apps should be submitted by the person or legal entity that owns or has licensed the intellectual property and other relevant rights and is responsible for offering any services provided by the app.

Therefore it does not matter that you state that you have agreements with the hospital that you are allowed to use their name, trademark, logo, etc. The app needs to be submitted by the entity providing the service - not by the person that happened to be doing the actual coding.

You can make a second plea to Apple stating that you didn't know that you weren't supposed to enter an agreement at all - but if they already explained to you that it is non-refundable, there's really nothing you can do. It is explained up front by Apple who needs to enter in an agreement and pay the fees, so it was your responsibility to figure that out before ordering and paying.

jksoegaard
  • 77,783
6

Based on the feedback you got, Apple is stating you've violated section 5.2.1 which deals with intellectual property rights.

The applicable part of this section is:

Apps should be submitted by the person or legal entity that owns or has licensed the intellectual property and other relevant rights and is responsible for offering any services provided by the app.

"Saifee Hospital, Karachi" is the legal owner of their trademark and images. I'm guessing that you've included the trademarked image of this hospital in your app.

Because you're not the owner of that trademark, Apple is stating that you're improperly using something that's trademarked and you're not the trademark holder (because the developer name is not the registered owner of the trademark).

To get past this, you need to either get permission from the trademark owner or remove those trademarked items from your app.

You will probably not get a refund because of an error on your part. This is fair to both Apple and the owner of the trademark. You have options available to you to move past this problem.

nohillside
  • 100,768
fsb
  • 22,799
  • 1
    I tried that as well asked apple that I can provide an authorization letter from the trademark/client, but apple refuse my appel on this case as well – Amanullah Tanweer Sep 18 '19 at 13:44
  • 1
    It's strange that they would refuse an appeal if you provided proof of permission from the trademark owner. To clarify, do you already have that permission or where you just asking Apple if you could appeal if you got this? I'm guessing they would deny an appeal if you didn't already have that permission. – fsb Sep 18 '19 at 14:16
  • I don't see how this relates to trademarked images of a hospital at all - this is not what Apple wrote. When I read Apple's reply it sounds like the OP has the hospital as a client, and he wrote an app for the hospital. And now he is trying to put it on the App Store in the name of the hospital - that's not how you do it. A dev shop do not publish on the App Store in the name of client. The client has to enter into their own agreement with Apple. – jksoegaard Sep 18 '19 at 14:39
  • 2
    @jksoegaard I'm just referencing the section Apple communicated to the OP. That section deals with trademarks and rights. I guessed it had to do with a trademarked logo but that's just a guess. OP didn't state the app was built for the hospital, it was just mentioned "a client". That client could be anything so I didn't assume the hospital was the client. – fsb Sep 18 '19 at 15:06
  • Yes, but that section has multiple parts - the first being about trademarks and rights - the last part says that it is the party that offers the service that must submit the app, not a contracted developer on their behalf. It sounds to me this is the problem - but yes you’re right, we have very little to go on. When I answered, OP hadn’t included the actual rejection notice in the question. – jksoegaard Sep 18 '19 at 16:02
  • I asked apple if I change the name of the application and I got this reply just now. – Amanullah Tanweer Sep 18 '19 at 18:44
  • 1
    Hello Amanullah,

    Thank you for contacting the App Review Board. However, changing the name of your application does not resolve the 5.2.1 issue. Since your app is specifically for a medical institution, it should be submitted under an account that reflects the name of the medical institution.

    Please refer to our previous correspondence for details on how to resolve the issues we identified during our review. It would be appropriate to revise your app to ensure it is compliant with our guidelines prior to resubmitting it for review.

    Best regards, Taylor App Review Board

     – Amanullah Tanweer Sep 18 '19 at 18:44
  • 4
    The problem is not with the name of the app, it's with the name of the developer you're using to submit the app. You were advised of that at the beginning of the process. It also appears Apple is telling you how to resolve the problem but, so far, you're not following that process. – fsb Sep 18 '19 at 18:58