Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!iuvax!purdue!decwrl!adobe!jeynes
From: jeynes@adobe.COM (Ross A. Jeynes)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Copyright of Coded Font Programs
Message-ID: <1735@adobe.UUCP>
Date: 2 Feb 90 07:34:09 GMT
References: <1701@adobe.UUCP> <3517@csccat.UUCP>
Reply-To: jeynes@adobe.UUCP (Ross A. Jeynes)
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View
Lines: 57


I'm not very good with legal jargon, but there has been a lot of discussion
about this lately.  This is my understanding of the copyright decision:

In article <3517@csccat.UUCP> larry@csccat writes:
>The impression that I'm getting is that the copyright protects Adobe's
>hinting code, which is now or will soon be widely available.  If this is

The copyright protects the Adobe ITC Garamond Font Computer Program, 
written in the PostScript language, not the hints.

>the case, then certainly radically different CODE could produce the same
>hinting behavior.  Is it therefore really an ALGORITHM that has been
>copyrighted, or is it merely duplication of the Adobe source code?  I
>would think (naively, perhaps) that Adobe should have applied for a
>PATENT on their hinting mechanisms.

There isn't hinting "code" per se in the fonts; there is hinting data. 
I think we probably have applied for a patent on our hinting technology,
though I'm not sure of this.

>Is this copyright a devious way of doing this?  

No, it's really a pretty straightforward move to prevent piracy of our fonts.
Since you can't copyright the typeface itself, we copyrighted the program
that draws the font.  This means that we have legal recourse against those
who are blatantly stealing our intellectual property.  The intent of the
copyright is to protect what we have developed, not to flood the courts 
with lawsuits.  

>What if a developer wanted to write a drawing program that
>could produce general procedural graphics, which might include what is
>called "hinting" as a subset?  Is use of the Adobe hinting mechanism
>in general prohibited? 

Use of the Adobe hinting mechanism won't be prohibited.  When the Type 1 
spec is available, developers will be able to produce fonts that use
the Adobe hinting machinery.  As far as I can tell, having more designers
produce PostScript fonts will only make PostScript printers more desirable.
I think this is something that we want to encourage.

>One question that has been answered is that the DESIGN of a typeface
>is still NOT protected, so type designers are still screwed.  As I 

That's true, the Copyright Office considers font outlines to be data,
and therefore not copyrightable.  However, the name of the typeface can be 
copyrighted.  Using the "real" or "licensed" typeface has some prestige 
associated with it.  Using the original designer's font presumably 
preserves the original design intentions.  Not everyone cares about the 
"feel" of a font, so clone fonts (cheaper fonts?) will probably become
more common for those who aren't willing to pay for the name/quality of
the original design.


Ross Jeynes              
Developer Support                                       jeynes@adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated                     {sun|decwrl}!adobe!jeynes