making iPhone app, am I going to violate IP law? Forum

[thegor1987]

Hello,

Out of paranoia of having my idea stolen I am being as brief as possible about my app.

Anyways the legal issue; what if you link a map to GPS for a certain purpose that is the basis of an iPhone app. The app would never 'display' the map on the phone, it would only use it for certain information that cannot be 'owned' by anybody. Is that intellectual property infringement?

The following example is far from what I have in mind (again out of keeping my idea a secret) but it will help you answer my question.

say I take a university map and highlight a certain building and a 1 mile radius around it, then whenever the program is 'on' it will inform a person when they are approaching the building. I.e. it would say you are within a 1 mile radius of building x.

Does it matter if the user never even sees the map, or is just the fact that you are using someone else map to achieve a particular function a intellectual property violation?

what if you purchase the map, modify it by 'highlighting' the radius of the building and applying into a software that then reads this highlighted region and says 'you are within a 1 mile radius of building x'

thanks for any input, I am not a law student yet, otherwise I would complete my own conclusion on the matter.

[AreJay711]

Hire a real lawyer

[thegor1987]

No I'm asking exactly so I don't have to hire a lawyer when I get sued for unlawfully profiting from protected material.

[vanwinkle]

Hire a real lawyer