BRITISH Transport Heritage Company Threatened with Legal Action by Transport for London (TfL) Over Commonly Used Transport Names
London, July 2022 - Web-based heritage features and fabrics company, Shednumber2 Ltd, are threatened with legal action by Transport for London for having product descriptions that feature 'commonly' used names of London buses and trains.
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Shednumber2 Ltd (www.shedno2.co.uk), an independent supplier to the heritage transport sector and producer of personal accessories and home goods made from historic transport fabrics, has received notice from TfL that it believes that the use of words in its product descriptions are in breach of trademark. In the case, it appears that TfL assert that it is no longer possible to describe a product by its original service use, such as “Routemaster” or “District Line” when relating to the associated fabric (moquette), as TfL claim trademark over these descriptive names.
Shednumber2 said:
“TfL don’t have any objection to the sale of the products, such as cushions or laptop cases made from these classic fabrics, but they object to the use of words in the descriptions. We have checked with our supplier, and we have all relevant approvals in place to sell the classic London transport fabrics.”
TfL have said “your websites makes use of a large number of TfL’s registered trademarks in relation to goods sold by Shed Number 2, including (but not limited to) the following wordmarks – TfL, Bakerloo, DLR, Docklands Light Railway, London Transport, Central Line, London Underground, District Line, Hammersmith & City, Underground, Victoria Line, Routemaster, Northern Line, Piccadilly Line and Metropolitan Line. In light of the above, Shed Number 2 is required to take the following actions on or before 5pm on 5th August 2022: Remove and/or revise all listing making unauthorised use of TfL trademarks.”
Marcus Mayers, Managing Director, Shednumber 2 said:
“I think pursuing us through the courts is probably not the best use of public funds and quite worrying for all UK transport heritage lovers. If you follow the logic through no one will be able to call a Routemaster bus a Routemaster bus anymore or talk about getting on the District Line without Transport for London’s permission, writing these commonly used words in books could lead to legal action. Given Transport for London’s communication I’m not sure if me mentioning “Overground” in this press release is an infringement of the Transport for London trademark in their eyes. As independent outfitters, we support the everyday transport lovers incorporate transport identity into their lives and we also work hard to keep our shared British transport heritage alive and well. To date, we have helped many bus restoration projects and invested everything we have made in saving and restoring Old 1938 Underground carriages that would otherwise have been scrapped.
Attacking small players over commonly used transport names feels like a disservice to the transport community. To be honest, we are not quite sure what to do, hopefully the courts will find in our favour against TfL, but only time will tell, until then we will keep on selling.”
All of us at www.shedno2.co.uk would be obliged if all readers would sign our petition that we will send to the mayor of London and the chairman of TfL in the hopes that they refocus their energies of continuing to offer public transport rather than controlling key transportation words. https://chng.it/gBfHcdPv
If anyone would like further information please contact Marcus Mayers at marcus@shedno2.co.uk or call on 07747771894
Interior of London Overground train, Creative commons with thanks to PeterSkuce
Classic London Routemaster Bus, Creative Commons with thanks to Murgatroyd49
Our refurbished 1938 Stock unit
A range of our products