The USA offers no copyright protection whatsoever for typeface designs. The only thing that can be copyrighted is the outline data of a particular typeface file

The USA offers no copyright protection whatsoever for typeface designs. The only thing that can be copyrighted is the outline data of a particular typeface file. Those are considered to be like a "program" for generating a specific output. If I like the design of a typeface, I can make one that looks just like it from scratch, and sell it.[1] There are more exotic ways to protect fonts, such as "design patents", but these are rarely used. So, in this case, he analyzes the original outlines, and produces new outlines, and then produces a derivative work based on many such derived outlines. I think a judge would just laugh it out of court. If not, I think it would probably fall under fair use in the USA, specifically the "amount and substantiality" clause. The most relevant precedent might be visual collages. [2] But, I don't believe algorithmic averaging has ever been tested as a derivative work. Personally I'd argue that "average" artworks are more like facts about the world, but I doubt a judge would be sympathetic. Jason Salavon started doing similar artworks with photos more than a decade ago, for instance in "Every Playboy Centerfold: the Decades"[3] and many artists have done similar things since then. I once asked him if he'd ever had any legal issues, since I was doing a similar experiment, but he never replied to that. [1] http://nwalsh.com/comp.fonts/FAQ/cf_13.htm http://nwalsh.com/comp.fonts/FAQ/cf_13.htm [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collage#Legal_issues http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collage#Legal_issues [3] http://www.salavon.com/work/EveryPlayboyCenterfoldDecades/grid/11/ http://www.salavon.com/work/EveryPlayboyCenterfoldDecades/gr...