Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!adobe!greid From: greid@adobe.com (Glenn Reid) Newsgroups: comp.fonts Subject: Re: HP LaserJet Downloadable Fonts Message-ID: <709@adobe.UUCP> Date: 30 Mar 89 18:44:07 GMT References: <1736@trantor.harris-atd.com> <229800002@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> <96281@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> Sender: news@adobe.COM Reply-To: greid@adobe.COM (Glenn Reid) Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View Lines: 25 In article bschwart@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Barry Schwartz) writes: >Suppose someone writes a program that converts one bitmap format >to another, then runs a protected font through it. Furthermore >suppose (to muddy things up a little more) that the conversion >involves some kind of frequency conversion scheme; that is, the >pixels in the output do not correspond one-to-one with the pixels >in the input. Perhaps after automatic conversion the font will >need hand editing, perhaps not. Suppose someone write a program that converts a program in one format (C source code) into another format (binary executable), then runs a protected program through it. Can you use the executable freely? No. Just because you write your own compiler does not give you the right to use somebody else's copyrighted source code. If you derive something directly from someone else's copyrighted work, it's a violation (as far as I know). If you use a font program to print a character, the toner on paper is no longer copyrighted, just the program that got it there. You can derive work from the toner on paper if you like, but not from the program. Just opinions, and the usual "I am not a lawyer" disclaimer applies.