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From: pedz@bobkat.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.text,misc.legal
Subject: Font Copyrights
Message-ID: <792@bobkat.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Mar-87 16:04:32 EST
Article-I.D.: bobkat.792
Posted: Mon Mar 23 16:04:32 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Mar-87 04:04:42 EST
Reply-To: pedz@bobkat.UUCP (Pedz Thing)
Organization: Digital Lynx, Inc; Dallas, TX
Lines: 23
Xref: utgpu comp.text:568 misc.legal:912


Please notice that this article is posted to two groups: comp.text and
misc.legal.  The topic deals with a legal question about typesetter
fonts.  For those who do not know, Metafont is a program use to
describe a typesetter's font.  In the past this has been done by hand
by artists.  I presume that the fonts made by such artists has a
copyright assiciated with it.  Thus I am sure it is illegal to
duplicate a font by hand and sell it just as it is illegal to copy a
book or a painting and sell it.

However, I am wondering if I took the time and created a Metafont
description a font and that font was purposely identical (or as close
as I could get) to Times Roman (for example), could I use those fonts?
Could I sell the Metafont descriptions of the fonts (to people who
would then use the fonts created by them)?  In the world of type
fonts, the differences between them are quite subtle.  How different
do they have to be before they are considered independent creations?

-- 
Cute signature line employing many literary allusions and puns.
Standard disclaimer concerning my mental incompetance.
Perry Smith a.k.a. (Pedz Thing)
pedz@bobkat or {ti-csl,infotel}!pollux!bobkat!pedz