Apple has created an App Store-specific reporting tool that allows developers to alert the company to potential copyright or trademark infringement by copycat apps. The tool appears designed to streamline the process of getting offending apps removed from the App Store and giving developers a clear channel of communication with Apple during the process.

The new online tool, recently pointed out by developer Brad Larson and highlighted by The Next Web, is a fairly straightforward Web-based form. Once a claimant has filled out all the relevant information and sent it to Apple, the "App Store Legal Team" contacts both parties to encourage them to work out the dispute. The tool also generates a reference number that can be used to track the issue in communications with Apple.

Ripoff apps that use the graphics, icons, or even code of other apps is nothing new, but Apple has been criticized in the past for being slow to act when some apps are reported as infringing. Hopefully the new tool will enable Apple to act more quickly, which may in turn discourage scammers from submitting copycat apps in the first place.