I was contacted by JR Higashi Nihon through Apple last week that I was infringing on their rights with the melodies. I immediately removed both applications from the AppStore to comply.
I have now started to negotiate some form of licensing with them, hopefully this will lead to something positive and the re-release of Yamanote Soundrop with an Official stamp of approval from JR (Well actually Jeki, the marketing firm in charge of their assets)
Update: Turns out they only want to license to Japanese Companies … how surprising. Expect frencaze.co.jp in the future I guess, after filling tons of paperwork in Japanese, if that’s even possible to make happen.
That sucks big time!
i was browsing the japanese itunes store just now and i found your app still available.
kinda funny that they would claim that you are infringing on their rights when half the melodies are are from songs in the public domain. or maybe can they copyright the exact clip with that exact sound?