Is It Against The Law To Put The Name Of The Toronto Airport On The Web?
from the ah,-legal-challenges dept
Sometimes you have to wonder about folks who are very quick to dash off legal threats to websites that happen to mention their name. The site Urinal.net is a (surprisingly) popular website posting pictures of urinals from around the world. They were recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal and on BBC radio among others. The site has hundreds of fans who regularly submit pictures of urinals they take from locations all over the world. Basically, it's the sort of bizarre, but amusing, site that makes the internet fun. Not everyone seems to get the fun part, though. Someone from the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (the GTAA) happened to find a page on the site that includes two completely normal photos of urinals from the Toronto Lester B. Pearson International Airport, and decided that this must be illegal. They've sent an email threatening legal action against the site if they did not remove the name of the airport from the site. The site's owners complied, but were clear to mention that the GTAA had muted them. In response, the GTAA has also told them they cannot even mention the GTAA. Again, the site has complied in very amusing fashion. The description of the airport now reads: "The [facility in question] - covering 1,792 hectares (4,430 acres) - has been [Canada's largest city's] main international [aircraft take-off and landing facility] since 1939 when it was first known as Malton [facility]." They also note that the "Gee-Tee-Aye-Aye" forbids them from naming the actual airport. It makes you wonder, on what legal authority the GTAA is claiming you cannot name their organization or their airports. It's not likely that anyone is going to be confused into believing that urinal.net is the official website of the Toronto Lester B. Pearson International Airport. These days, people seem very quick to pull out legal threats any time anyone so much as mentions their name on a website.
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No Subject Given
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Google lifts the veil
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what happens if hundreds of people post the pictur
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All I can say is...
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Yes, but that information could be used by terrori
I think the GTAA had every right to demand the name be removed.
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Re: Yes, but that information could be used by ter
I think you got this slightly wrong. They're obviously afraid that posting the name of the city will make terrorists aware of its existence, thereby making it a target. They were probably hoping to keep off the beaten path, like Brigadoon.
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Re: Yes, but that information could be used by ter
Besides, anyone who has actually tried to travel to this airport knows it's practically imppossible to get there...
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Re: Yes, but that information could be used by ter
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Yellow Submarine ...
Thanks for the laugh ...
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An open letter to the GTAA/TPIA
I am appalled by your stunning lack of judgement, as evidenced in your scandalous and patently misleading letter to urinal.net. Your ill-considered actions reflect poorly on all of Toronto.
Therefore, being a resident of Toronto, and by the same authority as you claim, I declare it illegal for you to include the name "Toronto" in either "Greater Toronto Airport Authority" or in "Toronto Pearson International Airport".
I appreciate your cooperation. I will check back in a week to ensure that this information has been removed from your website. If at that time it has not, you will have demonstrated your belated understanding that your claims in this matter are baseless and specious.
Thank you, and have a good day.
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Internet Publicity
Maybe a handful of people saw the photos on urinal.net, but now that the folks in Toronto have made a stink about it the photos have been publicized all over the Net.
Now thousands of people have come to associate "Toronto" with urinals.
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Re: Internet Publicity
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um
Wait wait, you mean urinal.net isn't the official website of the Toronto Lester B. Pearson International Airport?.... Son of a ....
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I had something very similar happen...
Blech.
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re: Toronto reference
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No Subject Given
Sorry my english is not perfect.
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Is It Against The Law To Put The Name Of The Toron
Hi there, saw the article that talked about the bogus legal threat made by the GTAA against the U.S.-based bathroom-fixture web site. I was actually sued by someone last year for mentioning the name of his corporation on my web site. The EFF helped me obtain a lawyer. Go to http://www.ind-movement.org/lawsuit/ to read about it.
In particular, I recommend reading page 20 of the Magistrate Judge's recommendation http://www.ind-movement.org/lawsuit/pdfs/020617_recommend_on_mtd.pdf which basically states one can freely criticize a corporation by name, trademarks and servicemarks nothwithstanding. [I'm not a lawyer, your mileage may vary.]
Thought my comments might help the cause of free speech on the web.
[Fr.] Tony
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Airport Limousine Toronto
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