Diego Liatis, a Montreal gamer and entrepreneur, told Ars that he still plans on releasing a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map of Berri-UQAM, the city’s most well-known metro station. He's moving forward—the map is due sometime in March 2013—even if it means a drawn-out lawsuit brought by the local transit authority.

“If you ask me to change the name of the station—forget about it,” Diego Liatis told Ars, starting the sentence in French and switching to English for emphasis.

“I understand [copyright law]. But there are limits, such as the name of the station.”

Last week, Ars reported that Liatis and his colleague Frédérik Denis spent nine months creating a playable map of Berri-UQAM in time for LAN ETS 2013, a massive LAN party to be held at a Montreal university.

The plans of such a map drew a cease-and-desist letter from the transit authority, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) later in the week. The designer maintains he has the right to digitally reproduce a real-world location in a video game, just as anyone has the right to photograph it.

"Indeed, there was a meeting between the lawyers of the two parties today," Amélie Régis, an STM spokesperson, told Ars in a French-language e-mail on Monday. "The STM has asked that certain elements of the video game map be taken out. Mr. Liatis' lawyer must discuss this with his client and come back to us quickly. As this is a legal negotiation, I'm not in a position, unfortunately, to tell you anything more."

A hobby project

Liatis and Dénis haven't released the map to other Global Offensive players yet, but they did release a YouTube trailer last month, followed by a second trailer on February 17. Liatis told Ars he plans on releasing the map on a private server for free sometime next month.

“The goal was to make something that speaks to Montreal or another Canadian location,” he said, lamenting the lack of Canadian locales in video games. “And to do something independent—there’s no money [involved].”

Liatis also told Ars that LAN ETS had threatened to impose a lifetime ban on him if he ended up releasing the map. LAN ETS did not immediately respond to our request for comment on this point.

Liatis added that STM's media representative, Amélie Régis, expressed concern to him that releasing the map would allow it to be used by actual terrorists training for an actual attack. Régis also said it would be "insulting" to Montreal's Arab community.

Régis did not respond to our request for comment on this specific point.

UPDATE Tuesday 5:42pm CT: Régis finally wrote back to Ars, saying that she had never spoken to Liatis, and was "really surprised to read the opposite." Ars has contacted Liatis again to clarify who exactly he spoke with at the STM.

“Logic is on my side”

Liatis said he planned on meeting in person with STM representatives later this week. While he is willing to alter the STM logo and a well-known piece of art that hangs above a track, he’s not willing to compromise on the name of the station or its layout.

“Either [the STM] opposes me and we’ll meet in court,” Liatis added. “Or [the agency] will be OK with it.”

The February 11 cease-and-desist letter reminds Liatis that the STM “had warned you that it did not authorize you to use its image nor reproduction of the station in question for this project,” adding that use of its name, acronyms, graphic symbols, and seal are “prohibited by law unless permission is granted by the STM.”

The STM sent Liatis a second letter, dated February 21, noting that "copyright on architectural works is well-established in jurisprudence as well as in [case law]” and invited Liatis’ counsel to meet with them last Friday. Liatis provided Ars with copies of both letters.

No matter the outcome, Liatis remains determined. He plans to make similar maps of other Canadian locations for Left for Dead and Counter-Strike.

“Logic is on my side,” Liatis added.

UPDATE 8:05pm CT: Simon Marin, a LAN ETS spokesperson, told Ars in an e-mail that the university, and by extension its LAN party event (LAN ETS), is "disassociating itself" from Liatis and his map. Marin did not provide any further explanation.