Re: copyright for fonts?

On Thu, Sep 30, 1999, Ralph Clifford <rclifford[_at_]snesl.edu> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 29 Sep 1999, Julie Cason <julie[_at_]icopyright.com> wrote:
> >
> > I have a recollection -- as opposed to any kind of ruling -- that
> > fonts (typefaces) can be proprietary, but are not copyrightable.
> > (My recollection stems from the story of a man who has created 100's
> > of fonts for the sheer love of it, and sells them basically like
> > shareware. And from the fact that my former publishing company had
> > very stringent rules about purchasing fonts.)
> >
> > 1) Are fonts copyrightable? (They don't appear to fit the criteria.)
>
> According to the legislative history, no. "The Committee does
> not regard the design of typeface, as thus defined, to be copyrightable
> 'pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work' within the meaning of [the
> copyright act] ..." H. Rep. No. 94-1476 at 55. The Committee seemed
> to think that typefaces were industrial designs which were excluded from
> copyright protection as useful articles.

See for the international protection:

Compare the Vienna Treaty, of June 12th, 1973 concerning the protection of typographic fonts and their international deposition. I guess the US didn't sign it. The protection under the treaty is based on a design patent rational, so fonts have to be novel, non-obvious etc. in order to be patented.

Jurgen Kesper
<juergenkesper[_at_]01019freenet.de> Received on Fri Oct 01 1999 - 12:12:38 GMT