Copyright
Designs, including maps and plans or any other material produced by Draughtsman Ltd either on this website or in the general course of business remain the copyright of Draughtsman Ltd unless expressly stated otherwise in writing. No material or extracts thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written consent.
Map copyright: a bit of context.
Mapping used in adaptations produced for customers remains ©Draughtsman Ltd because they are not exclusive to one client. Usually maps contain material developed over years. It’s only by using mapping more than once that it’s economic to create it and update it.
For commercial reasons we normally don’t release digital mapping. Print and supply is the heart of the business, which survives by being a one-stop research, mapping, graphic design and print service.
We are able to supply digital mapping for websites, but this is by specific arrangement.
If we supply a pdf of any artwork for whatever reason, we may well send it watermarked and encrypted – and on the formal understanding that the copyright will be respected..
With larger maps we generally send paper prints, for all the same reasons – and many clients prefer this anyway.
This may all seem over-cautious, but we have had awkward moments in the past. On one occasion the marketing team at a major client changed – and the new people were unaware of the copyright situation. They had an old .pdf file and went ahead with a big reprint which I only stumbled upon by chance. It was an innocent misunderstanding. Things were sorted out very amicably – and that firm is still a customer. It’s worth noting that by not coming back to us for the reprint, they didn’t take advantage of improvements and changes to the mapping since the previous edition.
E. & O.E.
September 2024
Updated: 22 August 2024