Israel Railways threatens lawsuit: popular app receives warning letter
The transport app "Better Rail," operated on a volunteer and non-profit basis, has received a sharp warning letter from Israel Railways alleging intellectual property infringement. The developers are not backing down: "Public information belongs to the public."
An intriguing legal battle has ignited between the state transport giant, Israel Railways, and the developers of the open-source app "Better Rail," which makes travel times accessible to the public. Israel Railways sent a warning letter before a lawsuit, in which it demands the app stop interacting with its servers and raises a series of harsh claims.
According to the state company, the app infringes on its intellectual property and generates commercial profit from publishing the schedules. Furthermore, it is claimed that the developers performed "hacking" actions on the databases, which overloaded the railway's servers, contributed to their collapse on several occasions, and caused financial damage.
On the other hand, the developers, represented by Adv. Guy Zomer, reject the claims outright. They clarify that this is a completely free and non-profit project, which operates at a financial loss. Regarding the hacking claims, they emphasize that the railway's data was pulled in a standard and free manner without the need for a password, and that the load created by their approximately one thousand daily users is completely negligible compared to the hundreds of thousands on the railway's official app.
The bone of contention began when the railway demanded that the app stop pulling data from it directly and switch to relying on the Ministry of Transport's database. At "Better Rail," they claim that the ministry's database suffers from significant inaccuracies compared to the true data, especially in real-time during cancellations or platform changes.
However, in the shadow of the legal threat and despite unsuccessful attempts at dialogue, the app's developers were forced to fall in line and launch a new version that relies solely on the Ministry of Transport's data, while warning users of possible disruptions in the display of information.
As recalled, in parallel to the front against the app's developers, Israel Railways is also conducting a stormy legal battle in the government arena. Recently, a significant development was recorded in the railway's petition to the Supreme Court against Minister of Transport Miri Regev and Minister of Regional Cooperation Dudi Amsalem, demanding to staff the company's missing board of directors.
