[HN Gopher] Live London Underground / bus maps taken down by TfL...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Live London Underground / bus maps taken down by TfL trademark
       complaint
        
       Author : fanf2
       Score  : 200 points
       Date   : 2025-01-13 12:51 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (traintimes.org.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (traintimes.org.uk)
        
       | soco wrote:
       | In case you ever wondered how can some people be against
       | trademarks and copyrights in general.
        
         | AndrewOMartin wrote:
         | Itch.io was taken down recently be an over-zealous AI-based
         | service to detect trademark infringement and notify the
         | authority, I wonder if this is a similar case. It'd be nice to
         | know if someone in TFL actually requested this, or if it's a
         | case of fanatical legal enforcement as a service.
        
         | lou1306 wrote:
         | This is a perfectly legit application of copyright law/brand
         | protection, and I'm no fan of either. The Tube map is
         | copyrighted work that requires a license to be used, even on a
         | free service. The fellow should have stuck to normal OSM
         | overlays, and none of this would have happened.
         | 
         | What is controversial about this?
        
           | ForHackernews wrote:
           | If they want to control who uses the roundel logo, so be it,
           | but I think it's absurd that copyright applies to the tube
           | map itself.
           | 
           | In the United States, government works like this would be
           | public domain.
        
             | lou1306 wrote:
             | The map is a work of design in its own right, it is not a
             | mere geographical representation. Also, while it would be
             | nice if government work were public domain in the UK as it
             | is in the US, that is sadly not the case, and we have to
             | deal with it.
        
           | Dylan16807 wrote:
           | It's extremely simple. The Tube map _shouldn 't_ be a
           | copyrighted work that requires a license to be used.
           | 
           | You're judging the copyright enforcement action by itself in
           | a void, but it's not in a void.
           | 
           | Except it's actually trademark? It's ridiculous to apply
           | trademark law here. No consumer confusion is happening.
        
       | pluc wrote:
       | Between that and CityMapper being part of the Gravy leak, things
       | look pretty bleak for UK third party transit apps.
        
         | gruez wrote:
         | >CityMapper being part of the Gravy leak
         | 
         | You should take that leak with a huge grain of salt because the
         | alleged list of apps stealing your location contains hundreds
         | of apps that doesn't even contain location permissions.
        
           | pluc wrote:
           | Yeah, that's what they all say. Tinder and Spotify were both
           | named specifically and both denied it. I don't trust any of
           | them so I'm assuming they're lying, you do what you want.
        
             | gruez wrote:
             | Why do you trust an unverified "leak" over statements made
             | by multi-billion dollar multinationals? Sure, corporations
             | can lie, but so can such leaks. Extraordinary claims
             | require extraordinary evidence. If the leak is alleging
             | something impossible (ie. stealing location data despite
             | not having location permissions in manifest), then I'd need
             | far more evidence than some csv list.
        
               | blitzar wrote:
               | Trust me, I wouldn't lie to you for a billion dollars.
               | 
               | I might have been caught lying before about these things
               | but this time it's different.
        
               | imchillyb wrote:
               | Not OP, but...
               | 
               | I trust a leak from someone with no financial gain from
               | the leak.
               | 
               | I do not trust multi nationals worth several million,
               | billion, trillion, to state truth. I expect them to lie
               | until caught by a federal entity and fined.
               | 
               | Guess how many times multi nationals lied to the public
               | last year alone.
               | 
               | Now you answer: "Why do you put any trust in what
               | statements a corp releases?!"
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >I trust a leak from someone with no financial gain from
               | the leak.
               | 
               | >I do not trust multi nationals worth several million,
               | billion, trillion, to state truth. I expect them to lie
               | until caught by a federal entity and fined.
               | 
               | >Guess how many times multi nationals lied to the public
               | last year alone.
               | 
               | And what about the leak itself? "You really think someone
               | would do that, just go on the internet and tell lies?"
               | 
               | Here's an anonymous "leak" I found that says whatsapp is
               | backdoored and sends your chats to the CCP:
               | https://pastebin.com/uE4m694M . Are you going to believe
               | it? If asked for comment, Meta is probably going to deny
               | it, but obviously they're going to be lying for the
               | reasons you mentioned.
               | 
               | >Now you answer: "Why do you put any trust in what
               | statements a corp releases?!"
               | 
               | "Trust" isn't binary, it's a spectrum. I don't put much
               | trust in corp releases, but I still trust them far more
               | than an unverified source. Even if you put zero weight on
               | "statements a corp releases", you can inspect the AOSP
               | source code yourself and see that it shouldn't be
               | possible for apps to steal your location data when it
               | doesn't have location permissions, and therefore a list
               | claiming that such apps are stealing your location data
               | should be treated with extreme skepticism.
        
               | nonrandomstring wrote:
               | > Why do you trust an unverified "leak" over statements
               | made by multi-billion dollar multinationals?
               | 
               | Less incentives to lie.
               | 
               | Edit: I had a think, and what I picked up on was the idea
               | that sheer concentration of money might stand in as a
               | signal for trust, and so whether somone with more money
               | would naturally be more honest or dishonest than someone
               | with less, is really more of an interesting question.
        
             | braiamp wrote:
             | Is not whenever they deny it or not, your device can attest
             | to it. Both Google and Apple have no qualms screwing up
             | with third parties in their apps. Also, apps have been
             | datamined up the wazoo, if a company claims not to do
             | something and does it, someone would have already howled
             | about it.
        
           | d1sxeyes wrote:
           | This is a bit of an incorrect read on what this leak is.
           | Gravy gathers location data about people from multiple
           | sources but not directly from consumers. Gravy's customers
           | buy this data.
           | 
           | As far as I understand, this is a list of locations and apps
           | used by a person, but without much context. A typical
           | response to this has been something like this:
           | 
           | > Grindr has never worked with or provided data to Gravy
           | Analytics. We do not share data with data aggregators or
           | brokers and have not shared geolocation with ad partners for
           | many years. Transparency is at the core of our privacy
           | program, therefore the third parties and service providers we
           | work with are listed here on our website.
           | 
           | Note how carefully written this is to imply they don't share
           | any data at all, but they stop short of saying "we don't
           | share _any_ data with ad partners", just geolocation data.
           | 
           | But for companies like Gravy, their whole business is about
           | getting data.
           | 
           | So it's not at all implausible (or even unlikely) that this
           | represents an event where a user opened Grindr (conceivably
           | sold to Gravy by one of Grindr's ad partners following an
           | impression), and the same individual's location was
           | determined by some other method (for example, IP address
           | geolookup, or bought from a company which IS supplying data
           | to Gravy directly and has location permissions).
           | 
           | Take the leak with a grain of salt, sure, but it's looking
           | reasonably genuine to me.
        
             | kmeisthax wrote:
             | > We (...) have not shared geolocation data with ad
             | partners for many years
             | 
             | Mobile operating systems don't have good (if any) support
             | for opening things in subprocesses with restricted
             | permissions from the rest of the app. So if Grindr loads an
             | ad, that ad runs with Grindr's permissions. Same for any
             | analytics code that ad uses. So if Grindr gets geolocation,
             | even temporarily, so does every ad partner they have,
             | whether they like it or not.
             | 
             | And the thing is, ads are a bottomless pit of third-party
             | JavaScript. Nobody trusts nobody in the ad space, so
             | everyone wants their own trackers doing their own client-
             | side data collection. So Grindr doesn't have to know
             | anything about Gravy Analytics, they just have to have an
             | ad partner decide to use them and bam, they're compromised.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >Mobile operating systems don't have good (if any)
               | support for opening things in subprocesses with
               | restricted permissions from the rest of the app. [...]
               | 
               | >And the thing is, ads are a bottomless pit of third-
               | party JavaScript. [...]
               | 
               | If it's actually javascript, attempting to grab location
               | would result in a weird location prompt[1] that shows
               | even if you granted the app location permission. It's
               | still conceivable for a random SDK to go rogue and
               | exfiltrate location data, but it's unlikely that an ad in
               | a webview would be able to.
               | 
               | [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39665367/how-to-
               | prevent-...
        
             | gruez wrote:
             | >So it's not at all implausible (or even unlikely) that
             | this represents an event where a user opened Grindr
             | (conceivably sold to Gravy by one of Grindr's ad partners
             | following an impression), and the same individual's
             | location was determined by some other method (for example,
             | IP address geolookup, or bought from a company which IS
             | supplying data to Gravy directly and has location
             | permissions).
             | 
             | There's a pretty big difference between "grindr sells your
             | inferred information from IP" and "citymapper sold your
             | location data". Even though the latter technically could be
             | limited to the former, it's pretty obvious that most people
             | think it's selling your precise location as determined by
             | GPS or whatever. Just look at the other replies to my
             | comments if you don't believe me. This is important,
             | because not all "location data" is the same. People are far
             | more likely to be creeped out by precise location data than
             | ip location data, and you're basically constantly
             | transmitting the latter every time you use any app/website.
        
       | PaulRobinson wrote:
       | This feels a bit overzealous, "just" somebody following the
       | letter of the job rather than the spirit of it over at TfL.
       | 
       | I can see how it sort of happened though. TfL makes money from
       | licensing The roundels and other ephemera are popular. From
       | tourists buying licensed souvenirs, and other transport
       | authorities licensing the signage system in use in their own
       | regions, that is used to invest in the system as a whole (worth
       | noting: TfL is not a private entity, it's non-profit making,
       | everything it makes goes back into investment).
       | 
       | Because of that popularity there are a lot of people who try and
       | rip off the TfL brand and trademarks. Lots of tourist souvenir
       | shops might be minded to get their own take on this material, and
       | have some cheaply made and expensively sold to tourists, for
       | example. Another transport authority might skip the millions
       | invested in thinking about how to communicate clearly, and just
       | "lift" TfL's thinking. That obviously isn't fair, if you think IP
       | law is able to be fair in any way.
       | 
       | So, yeah, there are people whose job it is to protect that
       | revenue and protect the trademarked and copyright material that
       | protect that revenue.
       | 
       | But this is a hobbyist having fun. I don't think anybody thought
       | that this was a service provided by TfL, and I can't expect he
       | was making much of a living from it, or depriving TfL of revenue.
       | 
       | It's really rather tragically sad that we're now in a World where
       | good intentions on all sides can't really see each other. There
       | is so much utter penny-and-dime theft and copyright infringing
       | shit on the internet that requires constant purging by people who
       | are expected to protect their own trademarks, that the assumption
       | now is everybody is trying to make money off everyone else, and
       | nobody wants to do any actual original work any more.
       | 
       | I hope someone at TfL sees the light and comes up with a better
       | license for use of their assets, and sees this for what it is,
       | and reverses the decision. I doubt that'll happen, though. :(
        
         | HackerThemAll wrote:
         | I think TfL should focus more on the "transport" part of their
         | business.
        
           | zimpenfish wrote:
           | > I think TfL should focus more on the "transport" part of
           | their business.
           | 
           | I imagine they'd love to if they weren't constantly shafted
           | by Government Du Jour when it comes to funding.
        
       | davidhyde wrote:
       | It's CRITAAS proliferation. Copyright infringement takedown as a
       | service. It only feels unfair because right now it's asymmetric.
       | Wait until there is an automatic SAAS to counter balance it and
       | let the bots duel it out whilst laws eventually catch up.
        
       | mikelward wrote:
       | I would complain to TfL, but their complaints form is broken
       | 
       | > Sorry, something's gone wrong We have a technical problem right
       | now. One of the following options might help you:
        
       | helsinkiandrew wrote:
       | To be fair they explicitly state don't use their branding in the
       | API documentation. They made PS200K in 2024 from licensing - I
       | think about a millionth of a penny per journey
       | 
       | https://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-advertising-annual-report-202...
        
         | BonoboIO wrote:
         | 200k?
         | 
         | That seems very little to be honest. Who is licensing what from
         | the London Metro?
        
           | lostlogin wrote:
           | I'm m wondering if it's people putting the tube map on
           | things. There is an application form and guidelines.
           | 
           | https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/business-and-
           | advertisers/contact...
        
           | qeternity wrote:
           | If that is indeed the actual number, it most certainly has
           | deeply negative ROI.
           | 
           | There is no way they are running a licensing department for
           | under PS200kpa.
        
       | alvis wrote:
       | Many years back, it was a thing that TfL actively encouraged
       | developers to use their data, and I was lucky to be a winner of a
       | notional campaign thanks to that.
       | 
       | But now, the headwinds apparently have changed. Sad :(
        
         | helsinkiandrew wrote:
         | > Many years back, it was a thing that TfL actively encouraged
         | developers to use their data
         | 
         | They still do but not the branding:
         | 
         | "Use our data - not our brand" https://tfl.gov.uk/info-
         | for/open-data-users/design-and-brand...
        
           | tuukkah wrote:
           | However, the map layout is data, not branding. If your
           | service has to alter the layout, it's more confusing to the
           | passengers who TfL should be thinking about.
        
             | NoboruWataya wrote:
             | It has a very unique look and feel, and I'm not sure it is
             | "just" data given that the location of stations on the tube
             | map doesn't actually correspond to their geographic
             | locations within London. I do think it is _capable_ of
             | forming part of the TfL brand, though by now it feels quite
             | generic to me.
             | 
             | Regardless of whether the map is capable of being protected
             | by IP law (TfL certainly seem to think it is), this just
             | feels stingy and pointless on TfL's part. They are a public
             | service after all, and these maps arguably furthered their
             | public mission. Given how popular the map is I would much
             | prefer they published it under a licence allowing free non-
             | commercial use with attribution (including a statement that
             | the user is not affiliated with TfL).
        
       | andiareso wrote:
       | I don't see the issue. You were using the TfL schematic map which
       | is very much a form of art. I don't think it's unreasonable that
       | they asked you to take that specific map down or continue with a
       | license.
       | 
       | To remove the whole site because of that seems petty.
       | 
       | It was clearly stated in their api documentation. It's no
       | different than getting a license or usage rights for hosting an
       | image or video on your site. Just because you are a hobbyist
       | doesn't mean you don't have to follow the rules.
       | 
       | This is coming from someone who is extremely pro fair-use and
       | right to ownership.
        
         | polotics wrote:
         | there is such a gap between hobbyist developers that do things
         | for fun if and _only_ if it stays fun, and consumers who will
         | qualify as petty the reasonable decisions to pursue some other
         | one of the very many other things-to-do-for-free that could be
         | more fun.
         | 
         | don't you think?
        
           | rad_gruchalski wrote:
           | To own the trademark and defend it means having to
           | proactively find and fight violations. So, nope.
           | 
           | How is the trademark holder supposed to know who they are
           | dealing with? Because they said so? Well, in that case I know
           | a Nigerian prince who would like to send you some money...
        
             | andiareso wrote:
             | This is the thing. Most people don't know that in order to
             | keep your brand, you have to continually use it and defend
             | it.
             | 
             | In a similar vein, the lawyers of the popular "hook and
             | loop fasteners" Velcro constantly try and defend their IP
             | so it doesn't become generic.
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRi8LptvFZY
        
         | jkestner wrote:
         | Eh, if your complaint comes 15 years after the site is
         | launched, and then you wait an hour before following up with a
         | legal notice, I'd be feeling petty too.
        
         | ForHackernews wrote:
         | This is like claiming you need to license the Mercator
         | projection.
         | 
         | The TFL tube map is almost 100 years old[0] and while we can
         | argue if industrial design is "art" the main point of the tube
         | map is utilitarian - to help people navigate the underground.
         | 
         | [0]
         | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00087041.2021.1...
        
           | d1sxeyes wrote:
           | So copyright should only apply to stuff that's not useful?
           | 
           | Whatever the term of copyright should be, there's no doubt
           | that it was a significant endeavour to create it, and it
           | creatively expresses the topography of London.
           | 
           | Your analogy doesn't work very well I'm afraid. The Mercator
           | projection is 500 years old, and generally speaking, you can
           | only copyright specific works, not processes. If you want to
           | protect a process from being used by others commercially, you
           | need a patent, and generally patents are not as long lived as
           | copyright.
        
             | mmastrac wrote:
             | No, but it's far more likely that fair use applies to
             | something that is more _useful_ than _creative_, ie: maps
             | and dictionaries.
             | 
             | Regardless of how much effort a copyrighted work to
             | produce, most Western countries have a fair-use equivalent
             | to transformative use of a work:
             | https://lawdit.co.uk/readingroom/intellectual-property-
             | law-g....
        
               | saaaaaam wrote:
               | The copyright exceptions in the UK are very limited.
               | There would not be a copyright exception in this
               | situation.
        
               | d1sxeyes wrote:
               | Odd that this site is a ".co.uk" but talks about the US
               | fair use doctrine. The UK does indeed have "fair use"
               | (actually called fair dealing) but this wouldn't come
               | under it as far as I can tell (IANAL, etc.)
        
         | samwillis wrote:
         | It _should_ be easy for a human at TfL to make an assessment on
         | something like this, see the autistic and technical value, and
         | offer a free but heavily restricted license to the developer.
         | 
         | But is suppose many organisations just don't give people the
         | autonomy and authority to do such tings.
        
           | VoidWhisperer wrote:
           | For that specific map, based on what the email he got sent
           | from TfL said, I don't think they directly have permission to
           | issue that license - their site says people have to go
           | through the partner who produced the schematic art to get a
           | license
        
             | tankenmate wrote:
             | Except the schematic art is covered by copyright, not
             | trademark.
        
               | tuukkah wrote:
               | On their website, TfL says both things:
               | 
               | 1. The map is covered by copyright.
               | 
               | 2. The only way to get a license is to buy one from their
               | map partner.
               | 
               | > _We protect the map under copyright and officially
               | license it for brands and businesses to reproduce it._
               | 
               | > _To use the map in your design, you must have the
               | permission of our map licensing partner, Pindar Creative.
               | This is the only way to officially license the map, no
               | matter how you 'd like to use it._
               | 
               | Yet, they don't even mention the case you might be a
               | third-party developer providing a non-profit service.
               | 
               | https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/business-and-advertisers/map-
               | lic...
               | 
               | > _For registered charities and schools, the licence is
               | royalty free, but we still charge an artwork fee of PS352
               | + VAT_
               | 
               | https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/business-and-
               | advertisers/using-t...
        
               | robertlagrant wrote:
               | > For registered charities and schools, the licence is
               | royalty free, but we still charge an artwork fee of PS352
               | + VAT
               | 
               | Institution funded by taxpayers charging institutions
               | funded by donors and taxpayers. Be nice if there were any
               | value being added, rather than just exchanged.
        
             | tuukkah wrote:
             | If TfL hasn't bought the full rights to their map layouts,
             | the shame is on them.
        
           | jrochkind1 wrote:
           | autistic value? Trains? I see what you did there?
        
             | samwillis wrote:
             | s/autistic/artistic
             | 
             | I violated my own rule of always re-reading a post 5 min
             | after posting it...
        
         | orra wrote:
         | > You were using the TfL schematic map which is very much a
         | form of art
         | 
         | The site was taken down by a trademark complaint, not a
         | copyright complaint.
        
           | dcrazy wrote:
           | Trademarks apply to artistic works that identify an entity.
           | See the TFL roundel.
        
             | tuukkah wrote:
             | You can use a logo to refer to the entity in question. Is
             | it not fair use if you refer to a subway station using the
             | subway station logo?
        
               | dcrazy wrote:
               | I am not a lawyer, much less a trademark lawyer, so I
               | don't think I can reasonably try answer this question.
        
               | andiareso wrote:
               | No. If using a plain text word suffices, then that's all
               | you get.
               | 
               | My wife is an IP attorney at a large UK based law firm.
               | We have discussed this exact thing before (in this
               | thread).
               | 
               | She worked on a client matter for a banking app that
               | wanted to show the logo of each company next to the
               | transaction. This was not cleared by legal given that the
               | law only allows for the bare minimum reference.
               | 
               | I think it's dumb because a logo is faster to see in a
               | list vs. text, but it doesn't matter. I think IP laws are
               | so backwards in the modern era, but thems the rules.
        
               | mr_toad wrote:
               | Someone should tell Wise. My list of payments has the
               | logos of TfL, ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury and others next to
               | the payments.
               | 
               | Apple Maps also uses the logos when you bring up location
               | details.
        
               | dcrazy wrote:
               | Those businesses may have enrolled in Apple Business
               | Connect or otherwise made an agreement to show their
               | trademarks inside the Maps app. Or the Maps app is
               | showing the store's app, and their app icon includes
               | their trademark. (One of the requirements of submitting
               | your app to the App Store is granting Apple a license to
               | use your app's icon.)
        
         | rossng wrote:
         | They could have easily offered a free license to use the
         | trademark. This project wasn't harming them in the slightest.
         | Demanding the map's removal and implying that he will have to
         | pay to put it back up shows a lack of empathy.
        
           | crazygringo wrote:
           | No, trademarks are genuinely important because they allow
           | consumers to distinguish between official things that an
           | organization stands behind, versus hobbyist projects,
           | imitators, etc.
           | 
           | But all the creator had to do was to remove logos and
           | possibly change the name so there would be no confusion
           | around whether this was an official project or not.
           | 
           | And it seems like the geographic map was fine, only the
           | schematic map would have been an issue because its design is
           | presumably specifically copyrighted and yes you would have to
           | license that just like any other map.
           | 
           | The letters he received may have been heavy-handed but
           | there's nothing wrong with the general principle of it.
        
             | anigbrowl wrote:
             | The point is that trademark holders could start by reaching
             | out and asking nicely instead of being assholes about it.
        
               | lexicality wrote:
               | To be fair, they did _start_ by reaching out and asking
               | nicely. They just immediately escalated.
        
             | mr_toad wrote:
             | The TfL trademarks are all over Apple Maps. The map itself
             | would be covered by copyright, not trademark.
             | 
             | It would seem that nobody bothered to run the notice past a
             | lawyer.
        
         | darrenf wrote:
         | > _To remove the whole site because of that seems petty._
         | 
         | How have they removed the whole site? It literally says "My
         | traintimes.org.uk is still there." at the bottom of the page.
         | Looks like only the maps have been removed.
         | 
         | (Edited to add: I'm a long time traintimes.org.uk user who
         | never even realised they had maps on the site, so consequently
         | I am happy the whole site has _not_ been taken down)
        
         | rozab wrote:
         | This is particularly galling because TfL never credited or
         | compensated the designer of the map, Harry Beck, until long
         | after his death.
        
         | lexicality wrote:
         | The first email asking to remove a single map from a sub-
         | feature of the website is very reasonable.
         | 
         | The second email sent an hour later requesting the hosting
         | provider immediately suspend the entire domain was not.
        
         | cryptonector wrote:
         | > To remove the whole site because of that seems petty.
         | 
         | Maybe, but TFA explains that it's not being petty, just lack of
         | time and resources.
        
       | harry_beck wrote:
       | It's a sad irony that TFL didn't even want this version of the
       | map originally, and it was given to them, and maintained for free
       | (I think) by a map enthusiast like the author of this version
       | 
       | I think Harry Beck would think history was repeating itself
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/cTLCfl01zuE?si=gb-PsswlfW8hSLGW
        
       | InsomniacL wrote:
       | > But I believe it is possible to both "protect" your trademark
       | (or whatever you think this is) and not treat people like this.
       | 
       | They probably do not like the way they are treated by having
       | their artwork/maps/trademarks taken without permission when they
       | might well offer it for free for good causes / hobbyists.
       | 
       | I'm guessing there is some copyright notice they require too in
       | the license to protect themselves.
       | 
       | I don't know if they do or not, but just pointing out the
       | hypocrisy.
       | 
       | Seems the OP would rather keep their site down than ask so i
       | guess we won't know.
        
       | bloqs wrote:
       | This STINKS of 'new person in the job with no personal connection
       | or background to certain relationships, and crucially,
       | allowances, established by the previous person, wants to
       | test/establish their power in new role and is looking for easy
       | ways to do it'
        
         | shermantanktop wrote:
         | The Dolores Umbridge Effect
        
       | krunck wrote:
       | Or just host it in a country that doesn't care about UK law.
        
         | NoboruWataya wrote:
         | Doesn't really work when you are an individual who lives in the
         | UK.
        
       | mhandley wrote:
       | TFL has obviously been aware of his use for 15 years, as the
       | website was widely publicised in 2010. They have not taken any
       | action to defend any trademarks they think he violates in all
       | that time. IANAL, but I would have thought that if he wanted, he
       | probably has a good case to invalidate those trademarks on the
       | grounds that by not defending them for so long, they have become
       | generic. But in the end, it's probably not a good use of his time
       | and money to fight them on this.
        
       | cynicalsecurity wrote:
       | Copyright laws need a reform.
        
       | madars wrote:
       | The email TfL sent [1] to traintimes.org.uk ISP looks like a
       | catch-all sent in haste. For example, it doesn't even mention the
       | map. Instead, it invokes trademark registration numbers but these
       | resolve [2] to LONDON UNDERGROUND and UNDERGROUND wordmarks and
       | the roundel, none of them covering the map geometry as far as I
       | can tell. It alleges a violation under Anti-Cybersquatting
       | Consumer Protection Act [3] but the act only applies to domains -
       | and TfL never claims "traintimes" to be an infringing domain name
       | (certainly doesn't look so under the marks cited). And, as a
       | sibling comment points out, the act is a U.S. law but the site
       | appears to be hosted in the U.K.
       | 
       | If you think you have a case about the map, why not state it
       | explicitly? The cynical answer is that ISPs have incentives not
       | to care so making a case doesn't matter but ...
       | 
       | [1] https://traintimes.org.uk/map/tube/email2.txt [2] One can
       | look them up in https://www.tmdn.org/tmview [3]
       | https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1125
        
       | paul_h wrote:
       | I commuted the NJ/USA daily for a while and loved -
       | https://njtranshit.com/ - there's always room for sites that
       | deliver something extra to the official one :)
        
       | mmastrac wrote:
       | This licensing page appears to be a new addition to TfL, which
       | probably suggests some bureaucrat negotiated a deal with a
       | creative agency to license the tube map for pennies on the
       | dollar, resulting in them sending out these notices.
       | 
       | https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/business-and-advertisers/map-lic...
       | 
       | Amusingly the notice was sent with references to USA trademark
       | law.
       | 
       | I am not sure how it works with regional governments, but
       | copyright information for government-produced works tends to live
       | as a "crown copyright" in the UK and former colonies.
        
       | wkat4242 wrote:
       | I was wondering what disappeared, I think it's this:
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20241204060614/http://traintimes...
       | 
       | Strange enough the owner also seems to have removed the
       | OpenStreetMap-based live train maps. Those can't be copyrighted?
        
       | switch007 wrote:
       | Just want to say how much I appreciate traintimes.org.uk
       | 
       | It's perfect
       | 
       | Compare to National Rail that has a pointless loading page, uses
       | the entire initial viewport to show anything but the train times,
       | and search is weirdly stateful. Just terrible all round
       | 
       | Thanks Matthew
        
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