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reality BYTES
04 October 2009 By Adrian Weckler
What a pity that such a successful venture as the Dublin Bikes scheme can be soured by the meanness of one company – the advertising giant, JC Decaux.
To recap: JC Decaux was granted the right to put up 72 ‘metropanel’ advertising billboards in Dublin city in exchange for funding the public Dublin Bikes scheme. That scheme, involving 450 bicycles at 40 locations around town, is now up and running, as are the metropanels.
It was all going very positively. But then a small Dublin internet firm, Fusio, created a free iPhone application that pointed out where the bike stands were. As a useful device, it attracted some 3,000 downloads.
That’s when JC Decaux decided that its goodwill to Dubliners had limits. It initiated legal action against Fusio, saying that any information about the whereabouts of the bicycle stands is theirs alone: no one else gets to say where the bicycle stations are without its say-so. Fusio, facing the legal resources of a global multinational, reluctantly withdrew the iPhone application.
Last week, I tried to find out exactly why the company had adopted such a mean attitude, by ringing its marketing office.
Me: Is JC Decaux planning an iPhone application of its own for Dublin Bikes?
JCD: You’ll need to talk to Dublin City Council about Dublin Bikes.
Me: But it was my understanding that JC Decaux, not Dublin City Council, took legal action against a company that created a Dublin Bikes iPhone application.
JCD: Well, yes, that was JC Decaux International.
Me: Is that different to JC Decaux in Dublin?
JCD: Well, it’s the same company. But you need to speak to Dublin City Council about this - they have all the details.
Me: Okay, but then why did this legal threat come from JC Decaux and not Dublin City Council?
JCD: We can’t talk about that. Dublin City Council has all the details. The council, for its part, says that the matter it is ‘‘nothing to do’’ with it, and that it is a ‘‘dispute between JC Decaux and Fusio’’.
But doesn’t the council have any say on the proprietary status of where the bicycle stands are located?
‘‘No," said a spokesman last week. ‘‘As I understand it, that copyright belongs to JC Decaux."
In fairness to the council, it has received some benefit from the deal. It estimates the cost of setting up and running the Dublin Bikes scheme as €26 million over 15 years, a cost it will not have to bear. It also receives advertising space on 38 of the 72 metro panel advertising billboards for 15 years, worth an estimated €20 million.
Clearly satisfied, it is now unconcerned about how JC Decaux plans to make money off the Dublin Bikes scheme. That leaves Dubliners at the mercy of JC Decaux’s charity. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have any. Nor is it inclined to talk to the press about its plans to make money off ‘its’ data. I tried the following follow-up questions:
1.Doe s JC Decaux have any plans for a Dublin Bikes mobile phone application?
2.Doe s JC Decaux regard information concerning the Dublin Bikes Scheme to be the sole property of JC Decaux?
3.Does JC Decaux intend to commercialise the Dublin Bikes scheme down the line, and is this the reason for the current legal action?
4.Doe s JC Decaux feel that hoarding data on a civic service is in keeping with the spirit of the initial agreement with Dublin City Council?
There was no response to the questions.
But I understand that the company is developing an iPhone application for the Dublin Bikes scheme. The application will probably cost us more money.
In the end, all JC Decaux wanted to do was to make more money out of what should be freely distributable information. What a shame. And what a mean company.
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