Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!sun!ringworld!eager
From: eager@ringworld.Sun.COM (Mike Eager)
Newsgroups: comp.fonts
Subject: Re: Copyright and Fonts
Message-ID: <87961@sun.uucp>
Date: 2 Feb 89 02:02:51 GMT
References: <326@wjh12.harvard.edu>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: eager@sun.UUCP (Mike Eager)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 45

In article <326@wjh12.harvard.edu> djb@wjh12.UUCP (David J. Birnbaum) writes:
>I have heard rumors that *nothing* pertaining to fonts is protected.
>At the other extreme, I have heard that font names are protected, so
>that you or I could not create and distribute a "Times Roman" font
>without paying a licensing fee.


There are several different forms of protection for what the lawyers
call intellectual property.  These are: patent, copyright, trademark,
trade secret, and (the newest) semiconductor mask protection.

Patent covers processes or inventions.  It does not cover any natural
laws or abstract procedures (such as a mathematical or physical law).

Copyright covers the way something is expressed, but not the underlying 
concepts.

Trademark covers the symbol or name used to identify a product in commerce.

Trade secret covers information divulged in confidence to another under
contractual limits.

Semiconductor masks cover just them.

The courts have held that it is not possible to copyright the alphabet,
any alphabet.  There is no protection for designs of any kind, such as
fonts, computer architectures, dress patterns, building architectures,
etc.  A number of companies have tried to extend copyright into this 
area, with various success or difficulty.

The names for fonts are like the names for other products.  Helvetica
is (I believe) a trademark of ITC.  Just like Kleenex is a trademark
for Kimberly-Clark.  (If I got the wrong company, don't let their lawyers 
know.)  I can make any tissue I wish; I just can't call it Kleenex.

This is why the various companies which have developed sans-serif fonts
which are similar (or identical) to Helvetica give them other names.  Since
Helvetia is the Latin name for Switzerland, one of the companies calls
their font Swiss.


---

Nolo Press has a paperback book on Intellectual Property protection.  It's
probably a good buy.