Berlin public transportation company BVG and Netherlands Dutch Rail have banned iPhone applications that give users schedule data (see also here).

By “banned” we mean pulled off of iTunes, because they claim that the programs violate their copyright on their transit schedules:

The application – which locates users via their mobile telephone network, tells them which BVG metro stops they can find nearby and helps plan timely routes – is popular with users, but not BVG. The company contacted Witt three weeks ago, telling him the program violated their copyright and demanding he remove it from iTunes. The decision has raised user hackles on internet forums, the paper reported.

I can think of no better example of how IP laws have become insane.

The idea that transit companies would assert property rights over their schedules is completely delusional.