Westminster’s Street Signs, instantly recognisable as featuring bold red and black lettering on a white background, were designed by Sir Misha Black in the 1960s. 

Copies, prints and post-cards of famous street names such as Abbey Road, Downing Street and Oxford Street can often be found for sale at ubiquitous merchants of tourist ware.  Alas, this may now be a dying trade.  The City of Westminster has recently purchased the copyright to the design of the Street Sign from the estate of Sir Misha and has issued a press-release stating that they will vehemently enforce any infringement of their intellectual property rights.

As the proprietor of the copyright to the design in the Street Signs, Westminster now has the right to enforce and have destroyed any unauthorised reproductions or replicas of such signs.

A spokesman from Westminster expressed concerns that sub-standard and aesthetically incorrect replicas had been found for sale throughout London.  Westminster’s plans to licence official Westminster Street Sign merchandise are aimed at tightening control on the sale of unofficial replicas.  Westminster has stated that fines for infringement may be set at £5,000, with the proceeds to be used to fund council services.  Quite how they see a system of fines operating in terms of copyright infringement (as opposed to parking tickets) has yet to be explained.

In preparation for the influx of tourism in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics this iconic and distinctive attraction, which has become an integral part of London life, has now been secured.  Such is the nature of touristic memorabilia, we won’t be surprised to learn of some interesting artistic adaptations of the Street Signs to avoid substantial reproduction infringements.

© Davenport Lyons 2008. All rights reserved.
This document reflects the law and practice as at April 2008. It is general in nature, and does not purport in any way to be comprehensive or a substitute for specialist legal advice in individual circumstances.