40withegg

Thanks to the persistence and support of many people the NY MTA has acknowledged that their own claim that I violated their trademark was a mistake.

After contacting me on 09/02/2009, SF Weekly writer Anna McCarthy describd my Muni-shirt story in her article "NYC's Metropolitian Transporation Authority Threatens Man Marketing S.F. Muni T-Shirts". In addition, she contacted the NY MTA regarding their insistence that my art infringes upon their intellectual property rights (trademark). Their response -- what trademark violation? Quoting Ms. McCarthy's article:

[In] a recent phone interview, a spokesman for the agency, Aaron Donovan, seemed to backtrack: "We have no claim on Muni's icons, we would need to look into the specifics of this case in greater detail to determine why the letter may have been sent," he said. "The images on Mr. Moore's blog did not appear to show anything that would represent a trademark violation against the New York MTA."

This is an important success against a litigious agency, and will strengthen the case of Chris Schoenfeld of StationStops.com.

The story is not over. As pointed out in the above article, SFMTA is "broadly interested in merchandising as well". While I'm hopeful that SFMTA will not follow NYMTA's lead, I'll be watchful for abusive practices.