Windows typography reproduction

[volvoguy]

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 10:23:46 +0000, David Marsh
<lists2005 at viewport.ukfsn.org> wrote:
> volvoguy wrote in gmane.linux.ubuntu.user
>  about: Re: Windows typography reproduction
> 
> > I'll let you in on a legal loophole about fonts though. It sucks for
> > typeface designers but can help you out of a pinch sometimes. The way
> > copyrights work on fonts is that the actual font data (the design of
> > the letters) isn't protected. It's only the name that's protected.
> > That's how people like Corel can distribute a thousand first-rate
> > fonts with CorelDraw - they simply change the names. (to protect the
> > innocent :-)
> 
> Are you *sure* you about that?
> It certainly sounds surprising to me, if not somewhat unlikely.
> 
> After all, were you to actually create a lead typeface and somebody
> copied it, I'm sure you'd be able to make a copyright claim. Surely it
> must be the same for digital fonts as well?

I'm 100% positive. The Corel CD is a good example. They don't make
fonts, and they don't distribute "brand name" fonts, but the actual
vectors of the fonts that they include on their CD are identical to
those made by Adobe, Bitstream, etc. This is also why freeware font
websites flourish. They change the name of the font (including the one
in the metadata), and they're allowed to distribute it.

As I said though - it really sucks for good typographers. I've talked
to people that simply quit selling their fonts directly on the web,
and instead sell them to a distributor like myfonts.com (or those $5
CD's with 1000 fonts that you see in the checkout lanes of computer
stores).


-- 
Aaron

Ubuntu SVG Artwork - www.volvoguy.net/ubuntu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. ~ G.K. Chesterton