3 ms·
Why? It's a fact that typefaces aren't covered by copyright in the US (unlike much of the rest of the world).
by halo 17y ago
Why? It's a fact that typefaces aren't covered by copyright in the US (unlike much of the rest of the world).
- pavlov 17y agoThe design of the letter forms is not protected, but the digital font files are. If you want to redistribute Helvetica Neue without paying Linotype, you must redraw all the letters.
- pbhjpbhj 17y agohttp://openfontlibrary.org/wiki/Font_Licensing#Are_all_fonts_in_the_Public_Domain.3F http://openfontlibrary.org/wiki/Font_Licensing#Are_all_fonts... It's not as clear cut as you make out - if you personally redraw the font then you're fine, AFAICT, at least wrt the standard lettering. The OFL link above says that it was considered that the standard alphabet couldn't be copyright. That means that any font use that includes anything beyond the standard alphabet would be copyrightable. http://nwalsh.com/comp.fonts/FAQ/cf_13.htm http://nwalsh.com/comp.fonts/FAQ/cf_13.htm is a bit more certain: If you copy a font file for use online, say, the typeface is PD (only in the US) but the other parts are still subject to copyright and the actual digital font file is itself copyright.
- ugh 17y agoIf you torrent font files you still have a problem. Sure, redraw them, spend hours working the hinting out (probably not as good as the foundry did it) and then torrent all you want. But hardly anybody is going to go through that trouble.