Transport For London Kills Off Fan-Made Device Wallpapers Based On Its Seat Patterns

from the flexing-muscle-and-looking-stupid dept

Here's copyright once again playing the thug role because rights must be enforced and the subsequent harm, etc. and so forth until things are broken and people are angry and in the end, the "victor" is able to walk away from a battle not worth fighting, much less worth winning. (via Nate Hoffelder)

Sam Morris, a UK mobile and web designer currently employed with The Guardian, put together a few mobile/computer wallpapers based on the distinctive seat patterns found in the London Underground. Here are two examples of his creations:

It's such a lightweight project (possibly not in terms of effort, but in the scheme of things, as they say) that it's surprising it drew the attention of Transport for London, the agency that ostensibly controls all things related to the London Underground. (This is not its first time playing the role of IP thug.)

Morris didn't charge for these wallpapers, nor did he attempt to make it appear as though his work was officially-sanctioned or otherwise a part of Transport for London's purview. And yet, TFL decided this fun little project that united fans of the Tube and pleasurably tacky patterns needed to go. A creative outlet now memorialized by this tweet...

End of the Line. Unfortunately due a copyright claim by @TfLOfficial, I've had to close Tubepapers. http://t.co/BbGNlLUhMd

— Sam Morris (@SamMorrisDesign) July 19, 2014

… and this message at Morris' site:

End of the line

Unfortunately due to a copyright claim by Transport for London, the backgrounds are no longer available for download.

I'd like to quickly thank everyone who visited the site over the past week for your enthusiasm.

One whole week before a government agency throttled it into nonexistence. Apparently, TFL said it sells products of its own featuring these patterns -- actual, physical products -- and that was enough to head off someone who wasn't even competing in the same space. Morris was not even competing, period. He offered free wallpapers for devices and could easily have partnered with with TFL to add his work to its offerings.

Or it just could have left it alone and enjoyed the small tribute Sam Morris had created. Now, all it has is a useless assertion of rights that has served to do nothing more than turn a small part of the population against it.

Filed Under: london, london underground, sam morris, seat patterns, tube, underground, wallpapers
Companies: transport for london