[access-uk] Cinema chain forces end of website that helped disabled.
- From: "Derek Hornby" <derek.hornby_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Access-Uk@Freelists. Org" <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 17:22:31 +0100
Hi all
This may interest many of you.
From The Times 20 September 2004
Cinema chain forces end of website that helped disabled.
By Jack Malvern, Arts Reporter
THE Odeon cinema chain has forced the closure of a website designed
to help disabled users to book tickets for its screens.
Matthew Somerville, 23, a freelance web designer, created Accessible
Odeon last July because the cinema company used Javascript, which is
incompatible with programs that help blind people.
Mr Somerville claims, that Odeon's official website is so difficult
to use that it breaches the Disability Discrimination Act. Odeon
denies this.
His website contained the same information as the official site but
presented it in a way that worked for a wider variety of web
browsers. But he had to close it last weekend after Odeon threatened
him with legal action because he was using its name without
permission.
Mr Somerville, who made no money from the site, claims that millions
of filmgoers have used it to obtain information on Odeon's films. The
company said that customers had complained that they had confused it
with the official website.
Luke Vetere, the marketing director of Odeon, wrote to Mr Somerville
accusing him of infringing copyright. "We cannot allow the current
situation to continue and so we insist that you remove...Odeon links
and content from your Accessible Odeon Website and cease using our
trade marks," he said.
The Disability Rights Commission, the government disability watchdog,
said that visually impaired users often had problems with Javascript
because it is difficult to enlarge text or convert it into speech.
"The law states that you must make 'reasonable' changes to your
website to allow disabled people to use it," a spokeswoman said.
Under the Act, companies can be fined up to £5,000. No cases have been
brought
in Britain, but under a similar law in Australia, the organisers of the
Sydney Olympics were fined $20,000.
Odeon denies that its website is in breach of the Act. "We don't take
the Disability Discrimination Act lightly," it said. "We are
constantly updating our website."
Mr Somerville has designed "accessible" versions of the National
Rail, Hutton inquiry and BBC News websites. He said: "National Rail
have been much better. They said they would let my site stay up until
they relaunch their site in October."
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