Berlin bans handy iPhone metro app
Dutch Rail not happy either
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Berlin public transportation company BVG has banned a popular iPhone application which helps to navigate the city's vast metro system with over 170 stations.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands Dutch Rail is threatening a student who developed a nifty train timetable for the iPhone. Both BVG and Dutch Rail claim the apps violate their copyright.
The German iPhone App Fahr-Info-Berlin was developed by 21-year-old student Jonas Witt, and has been downloaded over 20,000 times from the iTunes App Store since it first appeared in July.
When BVG began to notice its popularity, it told Witt to remove the app from iTunes because of copyright issues. BVG also said it plans to develop its own version of the application soon.
The NS (Dutch railways) is also not pleased with the Dutch iPhone application Trein (Train) developed by IT student Dennis Stevense. The app, which costs a mere €2.39, uses the Dutch Rail timetable database on the web. So far, the app is still available.
A Dutch copyright lawyer believes train schedule information may not qualify for database or copyright protection. NS says it also introduced its own iPhone app.
Undeterred, Witt has announced a new iPhone application that can be downloaded directly, rather than through the App Store. This time, Witt will get his data from OpenStreetMap, which can be used freely under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence. ®
COMMENTS
Information versus Presentation
Odd. It used to be that only the presentation of information could be copyrighted, not the information itself. So as long as no part of their map drawing or typesetting of the Berlin Rail schecule was copied, copyright law should not even be an issue. Of course, it could be that German copyright law is more far-reaching.
Why?
Most of these applications just use a web connection to download the latest info, parse the HTML and create a Cocoa touch interface to the data. There is no data being stored on the device AFAIK and it's hardly different that going to their website to get the info.
The App "Fahr-Info Berlin" was not banned from the iTunes App Store.
There is a mistake in your article:
The App "Fahr-Info Berlin" was not banned from the iTunes App Store.
The BVG just wants, that the graphical overview of the subway lines - called "Netzspinne" in German - is not part oh Jonas Witt's iPhone-App anymore.
But of course, the BVG should be more thankfull to Jonas Witt and award him with a lifetime free ride on their busses, underground- and speed-trains and trams!
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