Local man says he created safety app idea

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A new app called Companion might not be a new idea.

Five University of Michigan students say they created the app to promote safety,  but one Wilmington man says the idea is based on something he came up with a decade ago.

Bryan Bland, a former law enforcement officer, says he came up with a voice-activated cell phone program called “The Footstep Program” 10 years ago. He says it’s similar to the Companion app that was recently released.

Bland said, “They didn’t actually create it, they might have revised it.

He says the idea started while working in security for a bank in Charlotte.

“I would see ladies always walking out to that parking lot talking on their cell phones. On a couple of occasions I ask them are you really talking to anyone because so many of them had their phones up to their ears. Some of them said no we just want to give people the illusion that we are talking.”

His idea was to have a monthly subscription services in which the subscriber would register their vehicle information and what they were wearing.
A phone operator would check on the person every 10 to 15 seconds until they arrived at their destination. If there was no response then the operator would alert police.

Bland says he copyrighted the idea on June 22, 2005.

When he found out about the similarities compared to the companion app, he says he contacted the University of Michigan.

“I talked with Mrs. Tara Hartman in the Tech Division and I asked her if the students did a copyright search because that program was out there in 2005,” said Bland. “She said she wasn’t sure of it.”

Bland says he doesn’t want anything other than people to know he came up with the idea.

“First of all I’m proud that somebody thought it was a good idea and they went that far with it,” he said.

Bland is  glad the app is out there because he says safety is important.

He said, “I commend those students and I applaud them.”

Bland said it’s important to note that it’s not a new concept.

“The accuracy of saying we created it is something I question,” Bland said.

Bland said he feels like everyone should get credit when it’s do, but that’s not in his hands.