How to get permission to handright a protected font?

March 6, 2008 11:31 AM

How does one obtain a license to recreate a font in handwriting/design?

I know that most copyrighted fonts are purchased as licenses which allow the purchaser to use that font on their computer and prevent them, legally, from transmitting it to someone else.

Suppose the following: a gifted calligrapher can recreate any typeface with exactitude, by hand, with ink and pen. He is contracted to do a piece containing a protected font for which he does not already own a digital license, in fact, he does not own a computer. How does he obtain this license for manual recreation?

What I have learned so far:

According to this website, there are three basic protections for typefaces:

1. Trademark: the weakest, only protects the name of the font.
2. Copyright: most common, most vague.
3. Design Patent: "The designation is relatively rare because of the cost and effort involved, but is powerful. It is the only US legal precedent that protects the actual design - the individual shapes of the letters in a font ... If a designer were to copy them, even by redrawing them from scratch using pencil and paper, he would be in serious legal trouble."

I have also emailed Linotype's general inquiries mailbox, but am afraid I'll only get an automated response.

Are these licenses on paper, do they need to be signed by both parties, do they have "Licensed Helvetica Calligrapher" cards?

I'd also be curious as to how common/how many of these licenses exist or have been issued in the last few years.

posted by JeremiahBritt to media & arts (9 comments total)

I apologize for "handright", it was unintentional.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 11:32 AM on March 6

Very few typefaces have design patents, as you have noted, and they are all, as yet, untested.

The copyright protects the software: the actual points and splines of the characters, metrics and other math.

You are perfectly within your rights to manually recreate type. In fact, this is how many typeface designers hone their craft - by copying, by hand, the work of others.

If you really want to cover all your bases, simply contact the designer and ask for permission, but among the many dozens of type designers I know, I can think of only one who would have a problem with this.

Good luck. It sounds like an interesting project.

And if you email me with the designer's name, I might be able to put you in touch with him or her.
posted by luriete at 11:40 AM on March 6 [1 favorite]

(I'm not a lawyer)

To expand a little on what luriete said, a computer font can have a copyright because it is basically a software program that draws letters on your screen. A typeface, on the other hand, is just a style of drawing letters and US copyright law specifically disallows people from obtaining a copyright for a typeface.

You can find more info on the details in this article. As far as I can tell, what you describe should be legal.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:53 AM on March 6

I know that most copyrighted fonts are purchased as licenses which allow the purchaser to use that font on their computer and prevent them, legally, from transmitting it to someone else.

As burnmp3s and luriete said, fonts are not eligible for copyright in the United States. The data the makes up the font file can be, and the name of the font can be trademarked, but the actual shape of the letters has no legal protection.
posted by delmoi at 12:23 PM on March 6

No permission is necessary. If it was, Andy Warhol would have been put in the poorhouse early on.
posted by rhizome at 12:40 PM on March 6

Couldn't he just buy the typeface with a license that covers the piece he's creating?
posted by clearlydemon at 12:46 PM on March 6

Thanks. I'm not a gifted calligrapher, not by a long-shot. I just knew about fonts and licenses peripherally from working at various papers. A recent "rebranding" where I work, and the Helvetica documentary I saw recently got me thinking.

I had the idea that the trademark/copyrights just prevented someone from selling them as their own, but wondered about their various usages. I liked the idea of card-carrying Certified Lexicon Calligrapher/Luddite.

Thank you all for your very well informed responses, and if anybody knows more, please keep the answers coming.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 1:03 PM on March 6

A side question: what about automated tracing? What would be the legality of picture of a font and then having a computer (through Illustrator or Inkscape and their like) automatically trace the image to create curves?
posted by Pyry at 2:06 PM on March 6

what about automated tracing? What would be the legality of picture of a font and then having a computer (through Illustrator or Inkscape and their like) automatically trace the image to create curves?

I'm no expert, but last I checked, it was legal, but quite frowned upon in the type community (obviously). Also, keep in mind that you can't vectorize kerning tables.
posted by kidbritish at 2:22 PM on March 6