[viae]

Don't waste your time on legal action on this iphone app. Yes, notify Apple and publicize it. But, your energy is better spent innovating and hacking. While screen-scraping is hard work it doesn't bring success and other good programmers can re-implement your work without stealing it. Hell, this might be a good opportunity to open source your screen scraper. Publicize it so that others will collaborate on improving it. Then you can focus on more interesting work. Data gathering is hard work, more people doing it make it easier.

What can you do with your app that isn't so easily stolen (and reproduced) and turned into a carbon copy? As you've already seen, public transit apps are a dime a dozen. How about a bigger/better itinerary application that includes trains, planes, and automobile times so that one can put an itinerary together of vacation travel across all of Ireland? Add hotel info, confirmation info, etc, etc, etc...

I don't have the links handy put there have been other articles on HN about lessons from stolen work. Big lesson: it rarely matters because the people stealing ideas and work don't have the skillset to do it themselves. In the long term they can't compete with the new features and directions that you'll go.

What I'm trying to say is, use that energy from your anger to create something fcking awesome that that stupid muppet won't be able to compete with.

* I'm from the US. Yesterday, I learned about the use of the word muppet over on that side of the pond. BRILLIANT!

[Padraig]

Thanks, I appreciate that.

I'm not sure that it's as clear cut as doing something that can't be easily copied — any iPhone app that stores data locally is vulnerable to this. (In fact, I'd advise other iPhone developers reading this to have a close look at any suspicious competitors). I'm cool with someone 'stealing the idea', just not when they go selling my implementation of it.

[viae]

I understand your frustration, but from a different perspective, I think this helps bolster the case for moving on. Since iPhone apps store data locally, making it easy to steal, your iPhone secret sauce can't be the database or database scheme. The secret sauce has to be what you do with that data.

All that said, if you really feel that this is something that you want to do something about in the future, apps like 1password encrypt local data. I haven't done it, and other people have said it's a PITA because documentation is lacking... so YMMV. But, think of it this way, put that anger into learning how to encrypt/decrypt things on the iPhone. You'll gain a great skill while at the same time getting to code a project that allows you to mutter, "Let's see that stupid muppet steal THIS data..."

* Did I really mention that I like the word muppet? :D

[ericd]

I guess his point is to make your new competitive advantage something that isn't easily copied - instead of a data advantage, go for a feature advantage. He doesn't have access to your source code, so he'd have to do real work to make a competitor.

But I feel for you. I definitely think you should tell/threaten to tell his school if he doesn't take it off the app store.

[ajtaylor]

As a US expat in Ireland, I too love the use of muppet. It's deadly!