JC Decaux should backpedal on iPhone app threat
September 25th, 2009
[Cross-posted from IT Law in Ireland]
I’m quoted in today’s Irish Times on the threats made by JC Decaux against Fusio resulting in their taking down their Dublin Bikes App.
Leave aside for a moment the PR stupidity of this strategy.
Ignore if you will the dubious legal basis of their claim. (Without going into the finer points of copyright in facts, database rights, clickwrap agreements or possible passing off, the vague nature of their complaint – “Following our conversion, I confirm that you do not have the rights to use the information published on the web site http://www.dublinbikes.ie/. In particular the data concerning the stations is the property of JCDecaux and cannot be used without our prior authorisation” – makes it clear that they have little idea what they are talking about.)
Think instead about the issue of principle. A body which is operating in partnership with Dublin City Council is attempting to stop an Irish company from providing – free of charge – facts to the public about the service which they offer, without giving any justification for doing so, and without offering an alternative of their own. (I’m happy to see that at least some of our politicians understand the absurdity of this.)
I spoke to the press office in Dublin City Council today, who made it clear that they regard this matter as nothing to do with them. But why not? DCC were happy to work with Fusio to develop the app. Is there no provision in their contract with JCD establishing an obligation to provide information to the public about the service? Will they make sure that future contracts address this type of situation? (And – while I’m on the topic of the contract – why does JCD own the domain dublinbikes.ie? Is there any provision in the contract for the domain to revert to DCC on its expiry?)
- TJ
[Update - since initially posting this I have asked DCC for a copy of any correspondence with JCD over this issue and with any relevant portions of their contract with JCD. This seems to be an issue where JCD would be likely to reverse their stance if pressure were applied (one would hope they understand the risks of bad publicity!) - and where an important point of principle about reuse of data could be established. You may wish to email JCD at info@jcdecaux.ie; you can find contact details for your local councilors here.]
Entry Filed under: Intellectual Property
6 Comments Add your own
1. Twitter Trackbacks for Di&hellip | September 25th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
[...] Digital Rights Ireland » JC Decaux should backpedal on iPhone app threat http://www.digitalrights.ie/2009/09/25/jc-decaux-should-backpedal – view page – cached I’m quoted in today’s Irish Times on the threats made by JC Decaux against Fusio resulting in their taking down their Dublin Bikes App. — From the page [...]
2. steve white | September 26th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
this all goes back to the manner of the contract between dcc and jcdecaux, for the ads where the public weren’t allowed to see the details because of commercial sensitivity see archseek.com and boardsie for discussion on that
3. keith bohanna | September 27th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I took the time to go to dublinbikes.ie at the beginning of the week and leave a polite comment and question on just exactly how backward their action was and had they any intention of explaining it.
nothing back yet
keith
4. Keith | October 13th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
What’s the difference between Fusio’s iPhone app
http://bit.ly/dublinbikesapp
and the other third party DublinBikes webapps –
http://dublinbiker.com
http://dublinbikes.mobi
http://dublinbikes2go.com
Will JCfeckoff try and close down all these sites too?
5. Keith | October 13th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I wonder legally what’s the difference between Fusio’s iPhone app and other third party websites or “web apps” like
http://dublinbikes2go.com
http://dublinbikes.mobi
http://dublinbiker.com
Effectively they all extract the same information from the Dublin Bikes site and display it on the screen. The only difference is that the iPhone app is self contained while the others use the phone’s browser.
6. Joe Davis | October 27th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
We see now why JCDecaux took that action – they have their own app now after Fusio did the work of testing the market.
But the big difference is that Fusio’s one is miles ahead of JCDecaux’ app, so they didn’t want their inferior product to be shown up by a free alternative. They didn’t want to spend the money to create a good application.
I wonder are they also going to block the various mobile web apps – http://dublinbikes.mobi, http://dublinbikes2go.com, and http://dublinbiker.com to name a few?
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