OZschwitz: How Statist RailCorp's derailing commuter 'apps'

RailCorp is trying to stop four more software developers selling cheap "apps" so Sydney commuters can check train times on their iPhones and other mobiles.

The legal threats have been made even though RailCorp offers no equivalent service to commuters.

And that has provoked NSW Premier Nathan Rees to Twitter into the debate.

After yesterday's revelations that the maker of the $2.49 iPhone application Transit Sydney had been threatened by RailCorp, several other train schedule software makers have come forward to complain they have also been threatened with copyright infringement suits.

RailCorp admits threatening four mobile developers but says that's because the applications were providing "out-of-date" timetables.

The applications use timetable information sourced from the CityRail website but if CityRail updates those timetables, the developer must send out a new version of software for it to remain up-to-date.

It is likely that RailCorp does not want to rely on developers to do this, however, it is refusing to say when its own official version will be released, leaving commuters high and dry.

Dan Stevenson, an avid mobile user, referred the issue to NSW Premier Nathan Rees over Twitter, noting that RailCorp's Victorian and Western Australian equivalents had no problem with software makers using their timetables.

Rees, or one of his minders, tweeted back, saying: "Thanks for the link - i'll look into it."

Intellectual property lawyer Trevor Choy said even though RailCorp was a public service, copyright law was "biased" in favour of the Government and did not make any distinction between information that should be a public service (like train timetables) and private information.

"Government agencies are supposed to use their powers wisely, but here they are behaving exactly like a private company preventing a competitor from launching a 'competing product'," said Choy.

Nick Maher, who developed TrainView - supporting all Java-enabled mobile phones - in 2007 and TripView for the iPhone in October last year, has had to stop selling both applications after threats from RailCorp.

Maher said RailCorp invited him to a meeting in 2007 to discuss the possibility of it licensing TrainView, but "nothing actually came of that".

LNK

OZschwitz: How Statist RailCorp's derailing commuter 'apps'

OZschwitz: How Statist RailCorp's derailing commuter 'apps'

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

AnCaps' Laissez-faire Free Trade Zone