Re: Typographic copyright

In the discussion on font copyrights, a very important point seems to be missing:

Printed typefaces are currently protected by copyright law in several countries. For a clear discussion, see the book "Font Technology" by Peter Karow. That protection doesn't extend to use of the typeface in a printed document, so you don't run into the objections people have been raising against copyrighting typefaces. In any case, this is very much a different situation in different countries, so the book someone cited which said flatly that printed typefaces aren't protected is wrong. Note that design patents in the US also cover a couple of fonts which have been registered, so that claim isn't even correct for the US.

Protecting computer fonts (i.e. software implementations of printed typefaces) is a separate matter, though obviously the two issues can be connected. Outline fonts, in case anyone isn't sure, are currently protected by US copyright law according to the US Copyright Office. So don't take anyone's statement that fonts aren't copyrighted in the US (meaning typefaces) as meaning that it's ok to give copies of computer fonts to other people, unless those fonts are explicitly shareware or freeware. (Very few are actually public domain.)

Yours,
  Michael Bernstein
  Cascadilla Press
  michael[_at_]cascadilla.com Received on Mon Apr 01 1996 - 15:15:26 GMT