richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (12/16/87)
In article <1308@uhccux.UUCP> cm450s02@uhccux.UUCP (Jeff T. Segawa) writes: >In article <546@oscvax.UUCP> rico@oscvax.UUCP (Rico Mariani) writes: >>I've recently converted a whole bunch of Macintosh fonts to the Amiga >>format and I'd like to put them on a public domain font disk. However, >>I can see where there might be a few legal problems with doing this... >>So my question is this, which Mac fonts (if any) could I release without >>being sued to bits? >> >I think most of the fonts released by Apple are either copyrighted by >Apple itself, or licensed to them by ITC, Adobe or others. This is >especially true of some laser fonts, like ITC Garamond and Zapf. >I'm no attorney, but I suspect that releasing those into the public >domain could get you into trouble. I believe Apple licensed them, but in itself doesn't own any font copyrights. Doesn't make much difference, because... (are you sitting down) ... you cannot copyright a font design in the U.S. (not sure about Canada) You can trademark a name (like Helvetica (tm)), and you can copyright the binary that is the font, but the design itself cannot be copyrighted. Sooo, you can scale up a font you like, blatently copy it, and do with it as you please. Sell it, etc. No shit. Now, how does one prove that a software publisher *converted* a font, or copied the design ? Clear as mud, eh, hoser ? (Ref. Chuck Bigelow's article on Font Copyrights published recently in comp.lang.postscript) -- "Well they say, that Santa Fe, is more, than 90 miles away" {ihnp4!crash, hplabs!hp-sdd!crash}!gryphon!richard || richard@gryphon.CTS.COM
olson@endor.harvard.edu (Eric K. Olson) (12/16/87)
In a recent article peoples writes: >In article <1308@uhccux.UUCP> cm450s02@uhccux.UUCP (Jeff T. Segawa) writes: >>In article <546@oscvax.UUCP> rico@oscvax.UUCP (Rico Mariani) writes: >>>I've recently converted a whole bunch of Macintosh fonts to the Amiga >>>format and I'd like to put them on a public domain font disk. However, >>>I can see where there might be a few legal problems with doing this... >>>So my question is this, which Mac fonts (if any) could I release without >>>being sued to bits? >>> >>I think most of the fonts released by Apple are either copyrighted by >>Apple itself, or licensed to them by ITC, Adobe or others. [Much deleted] Just to make matters more confusing, I have heard from more than one source that the Screen Fonts (the bitmaps used on the Mac screen) for the fonts in the Laserwriter (i.e., Courier, Times, Helvetica, Zapf Dingbats, but NOT New York, Cairo, Monaco, etc.) are placed in the Public Domain by Adobe. Note that this does not mean that the Laserwriter Postscript Spline Fonts are PD, just the screen representations. This would mean that you can copy those bitmap fonts to your hearts content, just stay away from Apple's own fonts. -Eric I am not affiliated. Eric K. Olson olson@endor.harvard.edu harvard!endor!olson D0760 (Name) (ArpaNet) (UseNet) (AppleLink)
lee@uhccux.UUCP (Greg Lee) (12/17/87)
How about posting routines/procedures for converting the Macintosh fonts for the Amiga? Then everyone with access to a Mac could post a few converted fonts. Spread the risk -- if there is any.
keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (12/19/87)
In article <1333@uhccux.UUCP> lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) writes: > >How about posting routines/procedures for converting the Macintosh >fonts for the Amiga? Then everyone with access to a Mac could >post a few converted fonts. Spread the risk -- if there is any. I would think that MAC fonts downloaded from Compu$erve or other bbs's would not be copyrighted by Apple. Whether or not Compu$erve claims ownership of them may be a different matter.... Keith Doyle # {ucbvax,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd Contel Business Systems 213-323-8170