[FC-discuss] Discuss Digest, Vol 37, Issue 9

[Greg Grossmeier]

<quoting name="Brian Rowe" date="2010-01-14" time="11:22:27 -0800">
> Licensing fonts is also a very interesting issue.  Are fonts a form of
> typeface outside of copyrights control or are the copyrightable? 

Isn't it the case that it is widely believed and litigated that fonts are 
copyrightable? eg: Monotype Imaging, Inc., et al. v. Bitstream, Inc.
376 F.Supp.2d 877, Civ. No. 03 C 4349 (N.D. Ill., July 12, 2005)

... (looks some more)

I just found this article by David Turner of the FSF:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/20050425novalis

He says (without very good citations) that a "font face" (what the font 
looks like) is not protected by copyright while a "font program" (eg: the 
.ttf file) is.

Any more thoughts, Brian? It has been far too long since we've discussed 
these types of matters together. :)

> But either way I would rather use something clearly marked libre or make a
> stand on font freedom over getting special permission for just the org.

I definitely agree that we should use a libre font instead of any special 
permission just for our use. Did that special permission we received for 
freeculture.org allow downstream redistribution?

-- 
|       Greg Grossmeier |
| http://grossmeier.net |