Trademarks & Copyright
So the old saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and as Lonely Planet's reputation has grown, so have the instances of ‘borrowing’ our name or logo, or content from our books. Sure, sometimes it's just for a laugh at our expense, but situations like scammers flogging their own stuff, or passing themselves off as authors, can have serious consequences both for us and for you.
Read on for more information about what to be aware of (you can click on the menu below to jump straight to a section). We value travellers being our ‘eyes and ears’ on the ground, so if you see any use of our name or content that you think is ‘not quite right’, please contact us.
Trade marks
Our brand is our most important asset, because it's how you recognise us and our products. When we say ‘our brand’, we're talking about trade marks like the Lonely Planet name and logo, and others like Thorn Tree and Lonely Planet Images.
Generally speaking, we don't have a problem with businesses stating in their promotional material or on their websites that they have been recommended in Lonely Planet books (but only if that's true). But we are very strict about not letting businesses use the Lonely Planet name as part of their name - so you can be sure that a Lonely Planet hostel or cafe has absolutely nothing to do with us. Sometimes people who use our name think they're doing us a favour by providing free advertising, but often it's very difficult for travellers to tell the difference between what really is a Lonely Planet product or service, or something Lonely Planet has recommended, and what isn't.
Why are we so tough about it? Well, if our name is used by disreputable types, it could damage our reputation: for instance, a stay in a flea-ridden ‘Lonely Planet’ hostel could seriously change the way you feel about us! For this reason, using our trade marks without permission is against the law. This might sound mean and nasty, but travellers have expectations about the Lonely Planet name and what the products and services we provide.
So it's not about us being a big, bad, corporate heavy - we just want to protect our brand and ensure travellers aren't misled or confused by others using our name.
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Cybersquatters
Ever made a typo as you enter a web address in your browser and found yourself at a porn site? Ever searched the web for Lonely Planet content and found dodgy holiday packages instead? Use of another company's name (or very similar words) in a website's domain name is known as ‘cybersquatting’ - it's a kind of trade mark infringement, and a major no-no. Sometimes businesses genuinely believe that our travellers will be interested in their products, but often it's unscrupulous types who'll use any method they can to direct you to their site. It's a huge pain in the neck, both for you and for us!
Where you are right now is our official website. We have other associated sites, which you can link to from our home page, and you can link to our travel services partners via our Travel Services section. If you're wondering about a site that appears to be run by Lonely Planet, but it's not linked to from our main site, chances are it's not legit. And we'd love to hear about it.
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Copyright
Lonely Planet is a great big well of travel intelligence and it can be pretty tempting for other people to *cough, cough* ‘borrow’ some of our content and publish it themselves (particularly on the internet). We've invested a lot of effort, time, money and individual creativity in our products and we're not keen on having the results of our hard work stolen. Obviously we don't own the kind of information that anyone can dig up (like opening hours or train timetables), but we most certainly do own our opinions and the choice of words we've used. This is what copyright laws protect. Copyright also protects maps and images in our products, and the outcome of compiling information or data in a certain way.
Our permission is needed before reproducing a ‘substantial’ part of our content (substantial can be in quality or quantity). We do give permission to others to use our content, for example to educational institutions and non-profit organisations, and we also license it to other businesses (which is why you'll sometimes see Destinations content on other websites). In all cases, we require that we're acknowledged as the owners of that content.
There are times when permission to use content is not needed (for instance, fair dealing for the purposes of criticism or review, or if you're just quoting a snippet).
If you're interested in licensing our content, contact Lonely Planet Business Solutions.
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Piracy
Along with fake DVDs, Chanel bags and Rolexes, you may have seen imitation Lonely Planet guidebooks. They range from photocopied jobs to well-bound reproductions that at first glance look like the real thing. Sometimes they're wrapped in plastic so that you can't see the poor-quality photocopying or potentially out-of-date content inside (occasionally previous editions are re-jacketed with the cover of the current edition). But they're usually a different size and the price will certainly be different.
We know they're cheaper and it looks like we can afford to lose a few sales. But pardon us getting on a soap box ever so briefly to say that pirated Lonely Planet books compromise what we stand for - high-quality products giving you what you need for an amazing travel experience. We put a lot of effort, blood, sweat and tears into our products and the impact of piracy can flow on to our authors, staff, product quality, prices and, ultimately, travellers.
If you value our books enough to want a copy, please help us out by buying the real thing and let us know when you come across pirate copies. They're usually sold at markets or by touts, but in some countries piracy is so common that copies can even be found in bookshops, so be on the lookout.
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