6 replies to this topic

[Hans van der Maarel]

I'm currently working on the symbolization for a street map for one of my clients. This map is going to have a number of logo's on it indicating public services such as the tourist office, train station, post office, police etc. Most of these are in the hands of privatised organisations (i.e. non-government).

During the discussions about this map, my client came with a very interesting question, that I've never really thought of myself...

What if one or more of these organisations object to their logo being used on a map?

Any thoughts on this? I can't really imagine this happening and I've never heard of cases like this in the past.

[Nick Springer]

I would say the client should ask each of the organizations for their permission, and for any that don't agree, you should just create a generic icon representing that type of service.

[ELeFevre]

Hans,
I have a hard time believing any organization would object to advertising, however, it would still be best consult the organizations first. Who knows, maybe if they know their logo is going to be on a public map, they may want to use a different version of their logo. It makes sense to ask first. Erin

[Hans van der Maarel]

*the mind boggles*

Just to clarify, my client is a government organisation, so the maps are not being produced with the intention of making a profit on them.

Interestingly enough, I do have some samples of commercially produced maps where these logo's are not used. I've always considered that a weak thing to do (given that there's only one railway company in The Netherlands, it doesn't make sense to use anything but their logo to indicate train stations).

[mike]

if it's totally internal with no chance of ever being mass produced, then you can probably get away with using their logos in your maps. it saves you time from creating them and you can tell exactly who it is at a certain location without referring to the legend. however, if you have time, you can try to seek permissions.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Well, I discussed this with my client this morning and they have a legal department, so they'll take care of it.

[Rob]

if it's not yours, you really need to ask permission to use any number things, including, logos, photos, graphic symbols and fonts if they are copy protected, which one should assume they are.