Once upon a time I built an iOS language translation/dictionary app which used Wikipedia as a back end. Basically, if you entered a word in language X and the Wikipedia version for language X had an entry, it could find the translation for that word in language Y by looking at the "this article in other languages" information in the source for that page. It was useful for finding translations or transliterations of terms that wouldn't commonly appear in standard dictionaries, like neologisms, brand names, or even just really obscure topics. Unfortunately it eventually got taken down from the App Store because Wikipedia's asshole lawyers didn't like that I used a serifed W in the logo even though I made it clear it wasn't an official Wikipedia product everywhere and I didn't have the motivation to "correct" my audacious use of an upper-case W which Wikipedia now apparently holds the copyrights to.
I still use this technique "manually" for finding translations when dictionaries, though. Wikipedia has a lot of information which isn't in a typical API-friendly format, but with a bit of regex there's some interesting possibilities.
If this sounds interesting, the Objective-C source is still available here: https://github.com/garrettalbright/wptrans You might also be able to find clones of it in the App Store since I know people were taking my source and republishing it back in the day, some even for a profit (mine was always free).
Your app was probably taken down because you apparently don’t understand what a trademark is, or what it is for.
> Wikipedia's asshole lawyers didn't like that I used a serifed W in the logo
It’s not the lawyers which don’t like it. Trademark exists to protect consumer confusion. If a reasonable person could reasonably (but incorrectly) believe that your app was officially associated with Wikipedia based on only looking at the logo, then you have created consumer confusion. Trademark law disallows you from (using trademarked branding) letting people believe that your app is official.
> I made it clear it wasn't an official Wikipedia product everywhere
Posting “No copyright infringement intended” on a YouTube video does not, contrary to masses of people, turn a copyright infringement into something else.
Likewise, just writing that your app is not official will not make a trademark infringement vanish.
(Of course, if Wikipedia does not have a valid trademark which you infringed, that’s another story. But it’s not what I would guess has happened here.)
Note that it does not use the same colors as the Wikipedia logo or the same puzzle piece/globe iconography. It uses a serifed “W” as well as characters from other writing systems, with a brown and yellow color scheme - alluding to Wikipedia as well as the app’s purpose, but intentionally avoiding copying to a degree that would cause confusion. If, after considering this, you still believe I was intentionally inviting confusion between my app and an official Wikipedia product even before all of the documentation stating that is not the case, I believe that you are either operating on very bad faith, or are one of Wikipedia’s lawyers trying to justify your invoice. “Our firm removed 20 violating apps from the App Store this month!”
I agree that that logo was a bit more dissimilar, and non-confusing, than I would have to imagine would make Wikipedia’s laywers show up with opinions. But IANAL.
I still use this technique "manually" for finding translations when dictionaries, though. Wikipedia has a lot of information which isn't in a typical API-friendly format, but with a bit of regex there's some interesting possibilities.
If this sounds interesting, the Objective-C source is still available here: https://github.com/garrettalbright/wptrans You might also be able to find clones of it in the App Store since I know people were taking my source and republishing it back in the day, some even for a profit (mine was always free).