Ubuntu changing its look [LWN.net]

Ubuntu changing its look

Posted Mar 4, 2010 8:22 UTC (Thu) by drag (subscriber, #31333)
In reply to: Ubuntu changing its look by joseph_mayer
Parent article: Ubuntu changing its look

Typefaces are not copyrightable. You can 'rip them off' all you feel like and it's completely and perfectly legal. There is a long history behind of this and it exists for good reason. (The modern concept of 'IP' is just flat-out insane.)

Now the actual scalable font _implementation_, the *.ttf file or whatever, would be copyrightable (for good reasons) (but not bitmap fonts, maybe ironically). As long as you made your own fonts from scratch you'd be fine. You can copy whatever typeface you want, but the actual font is something you'd have to make on your own.

Now all of this is USA law; it varies in other countries. If you want to protect your typefaces in the USA they are patentable. Again for good reason. Good luck getting one though... patent laws for typefaces were established in saner times and thus you actually have to acheive something remarkable to get one, Seeing how typefaces have been around since the dawn of printing presses that is going to be extremely difficult to accomplish. (Entirely unlike software patents.)

IANAL

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Ubuntu changing its look

Posted Mar 4, 2010 9:09 UTC (Thu) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946) [Link]

You might want to read

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal_considerations_for_fonts

Ubuntu changing its look

Posted Mar 11, 2010 20:05 UTC (Thu) by vonbrand (subscriber, #4458) [Link]

Also consider the case of the Fedora logo: Fedora has got permission to use that typeface for that word and use only.

Ubuntu changing its look

Posted Mar 4, 2010 13:10 UTC (Thu) by k3ninho (subscriber, #50375) [Link]

The memepool needs to know the concept of a 'design patent' (U.S.) or design rights (E.U.) for the appearance of an item, not how it works or is constructed. Design rights were created in the UK to to stop people using copyright to stifle a market for similarly-designed items or spare parts. the legislation was created to assist entrepreneurial endeavours. The governing tests for infringement of a design {right,patent} monopoly centre around whether an alleged copy is 'substantially similar'.

Typefaces *are* copyrightable as a creative work and additionally can be protected by design patents (e.g. US design patent D1 is for a typeface) or design rights.

Stating the myth that rules about creative endeavour, invention and reputation which are lumped together under the banner of 'intellectual property' are 'flat-out insane' (sadly) won't stop people using those rules to steal your lunch.

K3n.

Ubuntu changing its look

Posted Mar 4, 2010 16:53 UTC (Thu) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]

Typefaces *are* copyrightable as a creative work and additionally can be protected by design patents (e.g. US design patent D1 is for a typeface) or design rights.

Yes.. I did mention that Typefaces are patentable in the USA, but the patents are rare and hard to get. I think there are a total of 150 patents in total and they last specifically for 14 years. The latest typeface I could find that was patented was Lucida and that was in 1994 and is expired now. But I did not do a exhaustive search.

And it's true that Fonts are copyrightable in the USA. Not all fonts.. scalable fonts are copyrightable, but bitmaps of fonts are not. Typefaces are not copyrightable.

Now in the UK and in Germany this may be different, but I only know the USA laws.

One thing to keep in mind is that:
Fonts != Typeface

In at least scalable digital fonts are concerned. Font is the implimentation and Typeface is the appearence if I understand everything correctly. (I am not sure of that).

IANAL