Who Owns The Train Schedule?

by Wendy Davis, Aug 21, 2009, 6:00 PM

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For three years, Chris Schoenfeld has published the blog StationStops, devoted to news and complaints about commuting on Metro North -- the lines for people who travel from New York City to upstate and Connecticut. Schoenfeld also posts Metro North train schedules on his blog and recently started selling aniPhone app with schedule information for $2.99.

One would think the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would want commuters to be able to access schedule information from a variety of sources. One would be wrong.

Schoenfeld recently reported that the MTA demanded that he cease and desist selling the iPhone app. That demand was made after Schoenfeld balked at an MTA request for 10% of proceeds on sales, with an advance of $5,000. The transportation authority characterizes the payment as a licensing fee -- as if the fact that a train leaves Stamford, Conn. at 7:07 a.m. every weekday and arrives at Grand Central Terminal 48 minutes later is worthy of copyright protection.

Today, Schoenfeld reports that he's in talks with the MTA and that the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation has contacted him about the situation.

Meanwhile, MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz told the Stamford Advocate last week that the agency is afraid that Schoenfeld could distribute incorrect information, which would then leave the MTA fielding calls from irate commuters.

Regardless, Schoenfeld's site clearly states it's not affiliated with the MTA. People who rely on his iPhone app obviously do so at their own risk. If the information he distributes turns out to be wrong, the MTA can pursue whatever legal options it has at that time. But the fear that someone will post incorrect data doesn't give the MTA the right to stop that publication in advance. And it certainly doesn't transform cold, hard facts into the types of creative works that are protected by copyright laws.

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0 comments on "Who Owns The Train Schedule?".

1. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited
   

   commented on: August 21, 2009 at 6:45 p.m.

   Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Or bored lawyers?

2. Linda Lopez from Independent
   

   commented on: August 22, 2009 at 12:15 p.m.

   That sound you hear is the MTA kicking itself for not having thought of the iPhone app itself. The spoils go to the fleet -- make that the quick (chuckle).

3. Len Watson from Scope+Focus, Inc.
   

   commented on: August 23, 2009 at 1:25 p.m.

   MTA paid for by taxpayers? Should be PD. The site has a copyright notice, but the taxpayers should be the holders...I'm not a lawyer; don't play one on TV.

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