Timetable App Developer Gets Nastygram From Transit Sydney 378
mikesd81 writes "ZDNet Australia writes that NSW state corporation RailCorp has threatened a Sydney software developer with legal action if he fails to withdraw a train timetable application that is currently the second-most-popular application in its category in Apple's App Store. Alvin Singh created Transit Sydney after he began teaching himself how to program in Cocoa Mobile. Within days of its Feb 18 release, Singh received a cease and desist notice from Rail Corporation NSW, the government body that administers Sydney's CityRail network. The email states: 'I advise that copyright in all CityRail timetables is owned by RailCorp. ... Any use of these timetables in a manner which breaches copyright by a third party can only occur through the grant of a suitable licence by RailCorp.'"
"As a government body, RailCorp information is protected by Crown copyright, a contentious provision in copyright law that has recently been used to block attempts to access information on the location of Victoria's bushfires and even seemingly innocuous information as the locations of public toilets. 'RailCorp's primary concern here is that our customers receive accurate, up-to-date timetable information,' RailCorp spokesperson Paul Rea explained. 'This includes details of service interruptions, special event services, track work and other changes. ... At this stage, it is not possible for RailCorp to grant third-party developers access to our internal passenger information systems. As such, any third-party CityRail timetable application would contain inaccuracies and have the potential to mislead our customers.'"
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:5, Funny)
Advertised train times a fact? In what country is that? Usually, these are pure fiction.
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:4, Funny)
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:5, Funny)
Disclaimer: IAAL.
Holy crap, and actual lawyer on slashdot!!!
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:5, Funny)
Re:they're not the only ones who lay the hate on (Score:3, Funny)
But at least you can get off the train, right? Right?
Re:Factual train times (Score:3, Funny)
Did you bring a watch ..... really?! Are you sure they didn't just change the clock at the other end to make it look like you got there on time? ;-) ;-)
No. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Many stupid-sounding legal issues in Australia? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:3, Funny)
Oh yes, murder is very a popular social movement in Japan, at about 1.1 per 100,000 per year (the U.S. is around 9 per 100K; UK have 1 per 100K.)
Not likely, so we need to ask you some questions: is this your fantasy? Do you think about murdering people by pushing them in front of trains? When you were a child, was your relationship with your father difficult? How do you feel about your mother?
Re:Many stupid-sounding legal issues in Australia? (Score:3, Funny)
Who cares what the police did in the nineteenth century?
Re:Factual train times (Score:2, Funny)
How do you handle some jackass blocking the door, thereby preventing the train from leaving until security removes the blockage from the doorway?
A running start usually works decently.
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:2, Funny)
specifically, Information Technology Law and IP Law.
Yeah, but are you on THEIR side, or OUR side..?
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:5, Funny)
Being late does not make you a retard.
Being late once only makes you a tard, you need to be late at least two times to be a REtard.
Re:Factual train times (Score:3, Funny)
"Blockage detected...coils charging...removing obstruction in 5...4...3..."
This is Japan after all - they solve everything with lasers over there.
Re:Factual train times (Score:5, Funny)
Legal copyright violation! (Score:4, Funny)
Wait a second... "Any use of these timetables in a manner which breaches copyright by a third party can only occur through the grant of a suitable licence by RailCorp."
What that's saying is that you're only violating their copyright if you get a license to do so.
Whoever wrote that letter needs to re-take Remedial Passive Voice.
Re:Factual train times (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder how often they do that?
In the Italian part ? Probably all the time.
In the German part ? Hell, no. There are rules ...
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:4, Funny)
> Other common reasons for trains being late are overcrowding and suicide.
Incorrect correlation direction.
Re:Factual train times (Score:3, Funny)
Their attempts at using lasers to improve their extreme suicide rate has thus far been unsuccessful.
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:3, Funny)
Did you ever consider that Japan's is so low because so many of the uncounted murders are from people pushing people onto train tracks, making it look like a suicide?
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:5, Funny)
The rain delay for trains in Spain occur mainly on the plains.
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:1, Funny)
Oddly, the suicide rate is much higher than the murder rate in nearly all cases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_suicide_rate [wikipedia.org]
Thus, the one person who is most likely to do you harm is also the hardest to escape. The only way you can be safe is if you ... kill him.
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:4, Funny)
El Whoosho.
Re:No Case Under US Law (Score:3, Funny)
You don't have to Bush-troll anymore. I know it must be a hard habit to break, but he's not in power anymore.