Earlier this week, Spacing Wire reader Gloria Tu pointed out to the editors of Spacing that CBS Outdoor’s proposals uses the cover of Spacing’s Fall 2006 issue on its poster kiosk and bus shelter renderings (Joe Clark’s analysis of the proposals also mentions the Spacing cover). You can see it in the bottom right corners of the kiosk and the shelter’s poster board.
We sent an email off to CBS Outdoor asking them to refrain from using anything Spacing-related on its models or in its renderings. We feel this action, albeit small, is irresponsible and was done without our permission. We are confused as to why they would even use our cover image since its not even a poster! Either someone at CBS was trying to win us over or was being cheeky.
As a magazine that has a very keen interest in the street furniture program, we find it a tad shameful for CBS to include the Spacing logo/brand in their bid. The cover was used without permission and could skew the way we are viewed by our readers. We’ve asked for an apology.
4 comments
Would you expect anything better from one of these companies? I hope you get your apology – let us know!
I am reasonably confident that the usage does not fall under any of th exemptions provided for under the Copyright Act, especially not the fair-dealing exemption the Supremes recently expanded. Moreover, the magazine and the illustrator both have rights that were apparently infringed.
Now, every time a Spacer has his, her, or its copyright apparently infringed, the response is to roll over or take a toonie as compensation. *This is not the time to do that*.
Wow, what were they thinking!? It seems like it’s intended to add insult to injury more than anything, although I am not sure I can imagine a designer being that spiteful; the guy who did the rendering is probably just like you and me.
Why aren’t you taking them to court? What’s wrong with you?