App Store Binary Rejected - The seller and company names associated with your app do not reflect the name

Question

I have recently uploaded a new application to iTunes Connect for the approval process. Its version is 1.0. Today the binary was rejected and the following was mentioned in t

Answer 1

We ran into the same issue. Basically it's a trademark issue. I'm not arguing if it's right or wrong. But the solution:

1. Either you have to list in the developer account of your customer.
2. Or legally acquire the trademark and brand name of your customer (may be limited for the purpose of AppStore/PlayStore/Digital Marketing)

I know point 2 sounds a bit off. I agree it is.

Let's take an example:

Developer: FooBar Software
App: No1 Pharma

In AppStore listing, the seller of the app is the developer. So from the user point of view, if you look at the listing on AppStore, it would say the app "No1 Pharma" is being sold by "FooBar Software". This doesn't sound right.

Another case:

The publishing rights of Harry Potter Books (acc. to wiki) is owned by Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) and Scholastic (US)

Developer: Bloomsbury Publishing
App: Harry Potter

This will sound right, in spite of the fact that the seller name and app name did not match. The listing would read "Bloomsbury Publishing" is the seller of the app "Harry Potter". This sounds right. So Bloomsbury can publish all the trademarks/brands it owns as different apps in it's developer account.

Perhaps AppStore might choose to differentiate the developers from sellers. Because developers are not sellers. That's the reality.

Let's say IBM develops the "Harry Potter" app for "Bloomsbury", then the listing should read:

Developer: IBM
Seller: Bloomsbury
App: Harry Potter

Hope this helps.