V/Line copycat app claim
V/LINE has been accused of ripping off intellectual property from a local business, offering a Melbourne-based app company $10,000 in hush money without admitting fault.
The regional rail operator has upgraded its official app over the past three years to provide passengers with easy access to real-time information on train services and platforms.
But developers at software firm Glass Echidna were shocked earlier this year to discover the improved product was almost identical to their own Go Melbourne Train Timetable software created in 2013.
Co-director Benjamin Dobell contacted V/Line about the software issue and offered to license out the technology they had created.
But bureaucrats at the operator denied wrongdoing and instead offered to settle the matter out of court with a $10,000 sum on the condition of confidentiality.
V/Line is a governmentowned corporation.
Mr Dobell said he chose to refuse the hush money because he wanted to raise awareness about the issue of intellectual property infringement in Australia.
“We are a small Victorian business,” he said.
“We’re not interested in being paid off and it’s far too hard as a small company with three people to take something like this to court.
“It’s just disappointing that this can happen and I feel a bit like I’ve been taken advantage of.”
Mr Dobell said while other apps now provided service information, they did not look as similar to his product as the Diagram to roster game change Possibly a pattern in sound of oyster production 3 Danced and turned in a one produced by V/Line.
“At the time it was a very unique program and our designers spent a lot of effort to make it intuitive,” he said.
A V/Line spokeswoman said the operator had been in confidential correspondence with Glass Echidna since early y 2018. “V/Line worked with Vortilla Digital to develop the V/Line mobile app and it has been available for passengers and the public to use since 2015,” she said.