The Montreal Gazette reports that Stationnement de Montréal, a subsidiary of the Montreal Board of Trade, has demanded the removal of an iPhone application that pinpoints where Bixi bikes, public-use bikes, are available in the city. The Board cites trademark rights in the name Bixi.
Montreal Board of Trade Demands Removal of iPhone App
5 Comments
Recent Posts
The Name on the Window Was Enough: The Attacks on Kiva’s and the Normalization of Antisemitic Violence in Canada 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 277: Kate Robertson on the Risks That Lie Behind Canada’s Unexpected Signing of the UN Cybercrime Convention 
A Surveillance Treaty in Disguise: The Trouble With Canada’s Quiet Decision to Sign the UN Cybercrime Convention 
Rushing Lawful Access Backfires: Wyden Letter on Bill C-22 Highlights Political, Trade and Business Risks 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 276: Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard on Canada’s Access to Information Failures and Why Access Delayed is Access Denied
Asking for code
Given the quote by Philibert in the article, it’s unclear whether Stationnement de Montréal really understands the difference between trademark and copyright. Most egregious is they somehow feel entitled to the source code of the application.
This however gave me an idea: if they’ll copy a supposedly infringing app, we could give them more options. For developers and designers with UI ideas, I have an MIT licensed project that generates a basic map and KML feed of stations. Feel free to fork and modify the following:
http://github.com/danielharan/biximo/tree/master
What copyright?
Stationnement de Montréal has no idea what it is talking about. They cannot have copyright for this name, only trademark. Daniel is right, if in fact the journalist got it right. This is not a copyright issue, but rather a trademark issue and possibly not even than, depending on what this application says and does.
What No Free Publicity Wanted?
Doesn’t this help promote the new project?
Can “Bixi” be legally used?
Assuming they make it clear it’s an unofficial site and Bixi is not their trademark, is an app developer in the clear?
Assuming that the quote was correct, look at Philibert’s position… he is the director of communications and marketing. Entirely possible that he may have inadvertantly interchanged trademark and copyright.
As far as the source code… may be a case of “we’ll ask for the code and see if we get it”. After all, if they do, they can release, or even sell, it on their own.