• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, October 8, 2009

Apple is once again selling StationStops, an iPhone app that gives commuters information about the train schedules between New York City and the northern suburbs.

The company reinstated the $2.99 app this week, after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority dropped its objections. In late August, the MTA had demanded that Apple cease and desist offering StationStops on the ground that it infringed on the MTA's intellectual property.

The takedown demand came after licensing talks failed. The MTA had wanted StationStops developer, Chris Schoenfeld, to agree to pay 10% royalties, with $5,000 up front. When Schoenfeld protested, the MTA asked Apple to remove the app.

At the time, MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz told the Stamford Advocate that the agency was concerned that StationStops might contain incorrect information, which would result in angry commuters complaining to the MTA.

This scenario seems extremely unlikely. "They don't go shuffling the trains around every three weeks," Schoenfeld says. In general, Metro-North train schedules change only a few times each year and, Schoenfeld says, he's on top of it.

Still, Schoenfeld's app description now includes language stating that it's not affiliated with the MTA or Metro North. The page also tells users not to contact the MTA if there's an error.

While it's good news that the app is now available again, it's still disturbing that the MTA succeeded in getting it taken down for five weeks.

Lawyers scoffed at the claim that the MTA's train schedules were copyrighted and, indeed, it's hard to imagine that times of train departures could conceivably be protected intellectual property. But the takedown demand left Apple little choice.

In general, Web companies who receive takedown notices must either comply or risk an infringement lawsuit, given the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor provisions. Those clauses state that Web sites are usually immune from liability when users upload material that infringes on copyright, but only if they delete it upon request.

Even when it seems highly unlikely that the material in question violates someone else's copyright, many companies -- apparently even large corporations like Apple -- find it easier to simply remove content than to risk litigation.