I was wondering if there were any issues when it comes to using public info i.e. names, addresses, phone, email etc. Example: You want to create an app that has a list of pet shops in a city. You find their info either by phonebook (remember those), google search, website or you call them. Do you need their permission to list them in your app with any information you want?

Maybe not with ANY information you want, but it seems to be that the basics are certainly permissible. I don't think Google asks anybody at all when it provides that information via Google or their apps. Neither do any of the other apps, since the content of what they present is just to huge to ask individual permissions for! My guess is that if it's available on Google, or even the phone book (which I'm sure it a copyrighted document), then it's fair game. I'm sure @Fred will argue against me on this, but in all reality, what business owner is going to object to free publicity, so long as you don't slam their business? You could always provide a way for people to ask for removal of their listing from your app, and that might satisfy some people. My two cents is that it's not a problem at all! What you're proposing sounds like public information to me. Mark

@GoNorthWest Thanks for the feedback. I see apps that do this all the time like happy hour apps. So I was curious if Apple asked you to verify that you were allowed to use each companies info. All in all I'm with you that it's public info and free publicity. I am curious if @Fred will argue with you lol

I agree with Mark and yourself. No such thing as bad publicity and what business owner doesn't want to reach as many folk as they can.

Why would you think data is copyrightable. If you compile to list of coffee shops you're good to go. Just don't use someone's list. The data is not copyrighted. Fred DATABASES AS COMPILATIONS: Databases as Compilations: Databases are generally protected by copyright law as compilations. Under the Copyright Act, a compilation is defined as a "collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship." 17. U.S.C. § 101. The preexisting materials or data may be protected by copyright, or may be unprotectable facts or ideas (see the BitLaw discussion on unprotected ideas for more information). An example of a database that is protected as a compilation would be a database of selected quotations from U.S. Presidents. The individual quotations themselves may or may not be subject to copyright protection. However, the selection of the quotations involves enough original, creative expression that it is protected by copyright. Therefore, a database of quotations will be protected by copyright as a compilation even though some of the quotations are not protected. A database of facts is also protected as a compilation, assuming the grouping contains enough original expression to merit protection (see the discussion of Feist below). An example of a protectable grouping of facts would be a database of Internet locations for selected legal articles. Each location consists merely of factual information, namely that a particular article can be found at a particular URL location on the Internet. There is no copyright protection for each location. Therefore, while the individual locations can be copied by others, if an entire database of locations (or a substantial portion of the database) were copied, the copyright in the compilation would be infringed. The creative, original expression that is being protected is the selection of locations for the database. If the locations were divided by topic in the database, the organization of the database would also be protected