MTA has a couple of licensing programs for mobile app developers – one if for stuff which is actually copyrightable – maps, logos, and the like. I know developers who have this license and don’t really have any beef with it.

The other licensing program is the one MTA and I are in a tussle over – and that is for scheduling data. The terms of the license are not attractive to any developer who can read, my lawyers would never recommend a client sign it as-is, and MTA has made it perfectly clear to me that the terms are non-negotiable.

When I have spoken to MTA in past, they have insisted that ‘many people’ have signed this license and are ‘perfectly happy with it’. But I have met and contacted many iPhone and Blackberry MTA application developers, and none I know of have entered into this license.

What’s more, I don’t know of any developers who are interested in signing it, for the same reason I wouldn’t – excessive royalty fees and no guarantee of schedule updates.

The only entity I know of using this data at all is Google, and they have stated quite publicly that they don’t pay for it (since they released that info, an MTA Spokesman made a surprising announcement that FREE MTA apps could get the same schedule data for free – an option MTA had never revealed to me for 9 months).

Curiously, MTA will not tell me who these developers are that DO have a schedule data license.

This is really strange, since in the contract, licensees are OBLIGED to let MTA use their name to help MARKET the licensing program to OTHER DEVELOPERS.

If you are a mobile developer who is licensing schedule data from MTA, please contact me. I would love to know your thoughts on the servicing and terms of your agreement.