Intellectual property permission checklist for App Review

Inventory protected material everywhere it appears

Search the binary, screenshots, previews, onboarding, paywalls, sample data, notifications, widgets, help pages, and support flows. Third-party material often enters through placeholder content, templates, demo accounts, or a marketing screenshot long after legal review finished.

Include music, film, television, sports teams, venues, news content, books, game art, celebrity likenesses, brand logos, social posts, maps, fonts, and datasets. If a user would recognize it as someone else's protected work, put it in the ledger.

Match permission to the exact use

• In-app display rights may not include App Store preview or advertising rights.
• A test dataset license may not allow production distribution.
• A brand partnership may be territory-limited or campaign-limited.
• User-uploaded content still needs moderation, reporting, and takedown handling.
• Editorial, parody, fan, or educational arguments should be reviewed before submission, not improvised in Review Notes.

Check App Store previews and screenshots separately

App Store previews are especially visible rights surfaces. Apple guidance for previews says to include only authorized content and only material you have the legal right to display. Do not assume a clip is safe because it appears for a fraction of a second.

AppReviewReady interpretation: use synthetic or owned content for screenshots whenever possible. It reduces review friction and avoids needing to explain why a third-party brand appears in a product-page asset.

Prepare a concise rights response

1. Identify the disputed asset by screen, timestamp, or URL.
2. Name the rights owner and permission basis.
3. Confirm the permission covers app distribution and App Store marketing in the selected territories.
4. Replace the asset if permission is unclear, expired, or too narrow.
5. Update sample data so the same issue does not return in a later build.

Keep a rights ledger

The ledger is not legal advice. It is an operational artifact that keeps App Store assets from drifting outside the permissions the business actually holds.

Review the ledger again whenever campaign teams create custom product pages, Product Page Optimization variants, or localized screenshots. A licensed asset can be valid on the default page but unauthorized in a new region, language, or advertising context.

If permission is pending, replace the asset before submission. A placeholder with owned content is less risky than asking App Review to accept a future contract or an informal partner email.

Rights ledger:
Asset or brand: [name]
Where shown: [app screen, screenshot, preview]
Owner/licensor: [name]
Permission basis: [contract, owned, public-domain]
Territories/media: [scope]
Expiration or campaign limit: [date]
Fallback asset: [replacement]