Legal Technology - iPhone Train App Stopped in Its Tracks
Legal Technology - iPhone Train App Stopped in Its Tracks:
The idea was born out of necessity.
Greenwich, Conn., software developer Chris Schoenfeld was working irregular hours in New York City and needed access to updated Metro-North commuter train schedules for Grand Central Station. He couldn't access those schedules as he rode the subway to the train station because of lack of Internet access.
So he developed a software program for Apple's iPhone, which allows people to access train information without an Internet connection. "I developed the application for myself, and I knew others would appreciate it," Schoenfeld said.
Last October, Apple launched the application as StationStops.com, which is tied to Schoenfeld's blog of the same name. That's when the quasi-public Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the Metro-North Railroad, came calling.
Several months of discussions about licensing agreements followed with no resolution, and MTA's in-house legal team claimed that Schoenfeld was infringing "upon MTA's statutory and common law intellectual property rights," according to cease-and-desist letters sent to Schoenfeld and Apple.
Apple disabled the application in late August.