In a statement on its website Apple announced on Wednesday that it has decided to remove the non-disclosure agreement for released iPhone software.
"We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before," reads a company statement.
"While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others."
Within the statement Apple admits that the NDA caused "too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software."
Apple also announced that it is currently drafting a new agreement without an NDA covering released software that developers will have to sign later this month.