ath@luna.prosys.se (Anders Thulin) (09/15/89)
In article <1192@adobe.UUCP> greid@adobe.COM (Glenn Reid) writes: >In article <124647@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> lemay@sun.UUCP (Laura Lemay) writes: >>Due to a glitch in copywright laws, and the fact that most existing type- >>faces have been around for hundreds of years, typefaces cannot be copywrighted. >>Only the names can. > >That is true, unfortunately for us all. > I am not certain if the statement refers to protection in general or to copyrighting in particular. It may be that typefaces cannot be copyrighted, but I believe they can be protected. Some years ago a 'font vendor' in Germany did almost exactly what was suggested in an earlier note: printed large-scale letters, used them as originals for digitizing, and then marketed the 'new' typefaces under his own name. He ended up in court for infringement of whatever-right. Warning: I saw as a short notice in a Seybold report, so there are probably legal niceties that are missing. Still, Germany seems to be a country in which typefaces are protected. Does anyone know if there are other enlightened countries in the world? -- Anders Thulin, Programsystem AB, Teknikringen 2A, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden ath@prosys.se {uunet,mcvax}!sunic!prosys!ath
dhosek@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Donald Hosek) (09/16/89)
In article <472@luna.prosys.se> ath@luna.prosys.se (Anders Thulin) writes: >I am not certain if the statement refers to protection in general or >to copyrighting in particular. It may be that typefaces cannot be >copyrighted, but I believe they can be protected. > >Some years ago a 'font vendor' in Germany did almost exactly what was >suggested in an earlier note: printed large-scale letters, used them >as originals for digitizing, and then marketed the 'new' typefaces >under his own name. He ended up in court for infringement of >whatever-right. > >Warning: I saw as a short notice in a Seybold report, so there are >probably legal niceties that are missing. Still, Germany seems to be a >country in which typefaces are protected. In most countries, typefaces are indeed not copyrightable, and yes, Germany seems to be one of the few which do allow such protection (I believe that the another is France). Charles Bigelow, who I think sometimes reads this list is something of an expert on the topic (most of my knowledge comes from two of his articles, one in TUGboat, the other in Visible Language, and from a conversation I had with him while I was at Stanford last month), and might post something on the topic. Font names are protected via trademarks (for example, Times Roman is a trademark of I forget what company). However, this sort of thing is easily circumvented by using a similar or related name (e.g., tms rmn for Times Roman, or Swiss for Helvetica). Also, specific bitmaps may be protected in some countries, but again, this can be easily circumvented (as per the example of the German rip-off, which would not be illegal in the U.S.). Programs, e.g., PostScript outlines, Metafont code, etc. are protectable only insofar as it doesn't represent a font. Thus the actual code may be protected, but not the output. All of this varies from country to country. My recommendation is that people use the original versions of fonts at all times; this guarantees that the creator of the font will get the compensation that they deserve, and that you will receive the quality of typeface that you deserve. -dh -- Don Hosek | Internet: DHOSEK@HMCVAX.CLAREMONT.EDU | Bitnet: DHOSEK@HMCVAX.BITNET | Phone: 714-920-0655 (I used to be a Mudder, but I got better)