terms-of-service
Where or how to check if you Google Play app is breaking the legal terms
<p>Where or how can we make sure that our app is not breaking "Google Play" and "Developer distribution agreement" terms.</p>

<ul>
<li>Does somebody knows the official channel for this?</li>
</ul>

<p>Links:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://play.google.com/intl/en-us_us/about/play-terms.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google Play TOS</a></li>
<li><a href="https://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Developer distribution agreement</a></li>
</ul>

<p>If you have similar questions you could search for help here and please take a look at the accepted answer as it will provide you more details how you should continue: <a href="https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/7100415?hl=en&amp;ref_topic=3364260" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/7100415?hl=en&amp;ref_topic=3364260</a></p>

<p>It is impossible to "make sure". The closest you could come to certainty is having your attorney infallibly draft a waiver that Google Legal agrees to, which renders the question of "breaking" Google Play moot (they can't take any action against you). Another possible approach is get a well-enough documented statement from a representative of Google that says unconditionally "That is okay". Here are some approaches (and their problems) to figuring out whether your app does or doesn't violate the TOS.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Ask your attorney. The main problem is that while the attorney should know what the law says (though no attorney is infallible), he doesn't know what your program does. Your explanation probably isn't much help (no offense, it's just that you don't know all of the facts that he has to know to give you advice).</p></li>
<li><p>Ask a programmer to look at the code. The programmer should have a better idea what the program does, but not what the law is.</p></li>
<li><p>Ask here on Law.SE. This might be the worst solution. Some number of people will know a reasonable amount about the law, a few people might have some idea what the program does and therefore whether the things that your program does obviously violate the TOS. However, given the lack of detail about the program, nobody here would point out any obvious problems.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to law school, and figure it out yourself (you would then know the content of the program and the law). This is mildly overkill and impractical, but gets you closest to making sure.</p></li>
<li><p>Try to figure it out yourself <em>without</em> going to law school. This is probably the simplest solution. You read the TOS and developer agreement, and ask yourself simple questions about the program. If you are certain that the program interferes with a user's phone, then you can see whether it is allowed (it is not). </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Certain elements of the TOS makes it in principle impossible to give a definitive answer. Para 4.2 of the developer terms says:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>You agree to use Google Play only for purposes that are permitted by
  (a) this Agreement and (b) any applicable law, regulation or
  <em>generally accepted practices</em> or <em>guidelines</em> in the relevant jurisdictions 
  (including any laws regarding the export of data or
  software to and from the United States or other relevant countries)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Guidelines and "generally accepted practices" aren't definitive objects that you can consult, to know whether your program does something that violates this condition.</p>

<p>If you're willing to forego certainty in favor of "reasonable confidence", a common-sense reading through the terms should generally address your concerns. Questions could easily arise if your program uses personal information, because you "may only use that information for the limited purposes for which the user has given you permission to do so" – how then do you determine what exact uses are within the scope of the purpose the user gave permission for?</p>
