How to report a copycat app on Google Play
Google Play has two separate routes, and they do different jobs. The legal route starts at Google's legal removals page: choose Google Play, then Google Play: Apps, then Legal reasons to report content, then Intellectual property, then Copyright or Trademark. Google asks you to verify your email address first. The policy route is an impersonation report, covered below. A policy report is not a legal notice, so if both apply, file both.
Copyright or trademark?
- Copyright covers things you made: your icon artwork, your screenshots and your description text. You do not need to register anything. This is the right route for most indie developers.
- Trademark covers your app's name and logo as a brand. A registered trademark makes this far stronger; without one, report the name as impersonation instead (below).
- Features and ideas are neither. Leave them out.
Contact the developer first
Google encourages you to try the developer first, especially for trademark complaints. It is not required, but it is often the fastest fix. Their email is on their Play listing, under App support. A short, polite message naming exactly what was copied, with a deadline, sometimes works in a day. Keep a copy of what you sent.
No trademark? Report impersonation
Google Play's Impersonation policy bans apps that mislead people by imitating another app, for example with a look-alike name or icon. You do not need a trademark to report it. In the Play Store app, open their listing, tap the three dots, then Flag as inappropriate, or use Google's report page. Say which app it imitates and how. Google does not reply to these reports individually.
What the copyright form asks for
- Your full legal name, company (if any), country, email and postal address.
- A description of your original work: for example, “our app store listing for [your app], its icon, screenshots and description text”, with a link.
- The link to the copying app on Google Play.
- An explanation of what was copied and how you know.
- Sworn statements and your signature. These have to be yours: never let anyone sign for you.
Attach your evidence where the form allows uploads: both icons side by side, the matching screenshots, and the copied sentences.
Before you file
- Check their release date. If they came first, do not file.
- Make sure it is not your own listing, a reseller you agreed to, or an old version of your app.
- Save dated copies of their listing first; it may change once they hear from Google.
- A false or careless copyright notice can make you liable for damages. Claim only what is really copied.
- Copyright notices may be published on the Lumen database, including your name.
- The other developer can send a counter notice, which can put their app back.
CloneWatch checks all of this, puts each part in the right report (a name without a registered trademark goes in the impersonation report, not the legal notice), and writes the text for each field. Check your app free.
General information, not legal advice. For anything serious, talk to a solicitor or IP lawyer.