IP: London Underground sues Scottish bar over copyright

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Youy have got to be kidden Tell me it isApril 1 st djf
> The Times, December 3 1998   BRITAIN
>
>   Bar sued for ideas above its station
>
>     BY GILLIAN HARRIS, SCOTLAND CORRESPONDENT
>  THE owner of a Scottish pub that lies 500 miles beyond
>  the end of the Northern Line has been ordered to pay
>  compensation after being accused of passing his premises
>  off as a London Underground station.
>
>  Kenny Nicoll, who runs the Underground Bar in Dundee,
>  said yesterday that he had received a lawyer's letter from
>  London Underground claiming that the pub was
>  impersonating one of its stations. Mr Nicoll was instructed
>  by the law firm Campbell Hooper to remove all references
>  to the network or face court action.
>
>  "This is crazy," he said. "Do they think we have queues of
>  people standing outside waiting on a Tube? If these
>  people are suggesting we are passing ourselves off as a
>  tartan Tube station, they must be at least four stops
>  beyond Barking."
>
>  London Underground said the gold and black signs that
>  hung inside and outside the pub must be taken down
>  because they breached copyright. Mr Nicoll has also been
>  asked to pay "significant compensation" to London
>  Regional Transport's Museum of Transport, which sells
>  approved Underground memorabilia.
>
>  "What are we supposed to be compensating them for?"
>  asked Mr Nicoll, whose basement bar has been called the
>  Underground since it opened in 1970. "I can't believe
>  commuters in London have stopped travelling by Tube
>  because of a Dundee pub. I'm not prepared to change the
>  name."
>
>  LRT said that using imitation Underground signs, whatever
>  the colour, was a breach of copyright. A spokesman said
>  the company was entitled to pursue a claim for damages,
>  interest and legal costs from the pub's printers, advertisers
>  and distributors.
> --end--