Giant Robot Imprisons Parked Cars in Hoboken

Yes, it's New Jersey. No, it's not the plot from a recent Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode. This is actually a software license contract dispute.

Seriously.

Hoboken has a parking garage that uses a robotic elevator/conveyor system to park cars more efficiently than the typical garage layout. But, the software that runs the intelligent system was licensed to the company managing the garage, not to the owners of the garage.

Wired News reports: Giant Robot Imprisons Parked Cars: "In the course of a contract dispute, the city of Hoboken had police escort the Robotic employees from the premises just a few days before the contract between both parties was set to expire. What the city didn't understand or perhaps concern itself with, is that they sent the company packing with its manuals and the intellectual property rights to the software that made the giant robotic parking structure work."