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by bryanrasmussen 2766 days ago
>I can’t help but feel that some of these companies wanted a

>custom typeface simply because that’s what everyone else is

>doing. This cargo cult mentality that is so prevalent in

>design is at best wasteful and at worst illegal.

Illegal?!? I'm going to need to see some work on this part. I couldn't find anything in the article that seemed to directly support the assertion.

on edit: formatting
1 comments
JustSomeNobody 2766 days ago
Yeah, the author needs to either remove that or clarify that point. That being said, I think the author means that all of these new type faces are very similar and so they may be infringing. Or that the companies want a familiar type face but don't want to pay for it, so they commission a look-a-like. But, that's just a very large grasp on my part from reading the article.
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amyjess 2764 days ago
It may be different in other countries, but in the US font design cannot be copyrighted. The TTF/OTF files can, and so can the hinting algorithms, but the actual design of the font is legally guaranteed to be copyrightable by anyone.

Why? Because a long time ago, the US government was worried that somebody would exploit a loophole and try to copyright the alphabet. So they set up protections to absolutely make sure nobody can do this.

Interestingly, this means that text-only logos like the Coca-Cola logo can't be copyrighted; they're only protected by trademark.

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Vanderson 2766 days ago
He may be bringing up the issue that it's perfectly legal to copy another font visually as long as you don't copy the font's data. (maybe something the author doesn't understand?)
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gowld 2765 days ago
How is that true? Can I copy a book or a painting visually as long as I don't copy its "data"?
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true_religion 2765 days ago
No, but typefaces are specifically excluded from copyright. An alphabet is considered to be utilitarian, not art.
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Vanderson 2765 days ago
Fonts and typefaces have unique copyright laws that are different from other forms of art/communication. I made a more detailed comment here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18541934

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bryanrasmussen 2766 days ago
perhaps it's just me but I always take illegal to mean criminally liable, if they meant civil liabilities I guess maybe eh, but it still needs some clarification.
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