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I converted my demoscene font collection to PNG and put it on GitHub

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Re: I converted my demoscene font collection to PNG and put it on GitHub

#51

Post by MaulingMonkey »

racingmars wrote: post #47
nullc wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typefaces nor bitmap fonts are copyrightable.

I'd love to see a reference to US case law to substantiate this claim. I'm pretty sure if I bought a font from Adobe and posted it online, they'd take issue with it. Is the particular implementation of a font eligible for copyright but the "design" isn't if I copy it and make my own font that looks the same?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protecti... references https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/37/202.1 which explicitly states that typefaces aren't subject to copyright. Encumbering every piece of printed text with the copyright of the typefaces in question would be... problematic.

That said: programs which render text (this includes typical font formats like ttf which can have all kinds of kerning and hinting information so the fonts look good at multiple resolutions) can be copyrighted - they're not just typefaces, after all - so you're right that Adobe would take issue with just copying their font files.

> Is the particular implementation of a font eligible for copyright but the "design" isn't if I copy it and make my own font that looks the same?

That's roughly my understanding, yes, although I'm not a lawyer. It's also worth noting that trademark can incorporate typefaces/fonts - so if you're making yet another sugary beverage, you might not want to pick the same distinctive typeface as Coca-Cola for your main logo.

Re: I converted my demoscene font collection to PNG and put it on GitHub

#52

Post by shric »

bemmu wrote: post #48
herodoturtle wrote: post #43

This is such a cool passion project, thanks for sharing your collection with us. Will bookmark this one for sure. It's great to see remnants of the demoscene pop up like this from time to time. I'm sure there are many of us relative old-timers here that got their first taste of graphics programming thanks to those demoscene BBS tuts from back in the day (Denthor of Asphyxia anyone?). Just the other day I was reminisc…

mov ax, 13h int 10h The two most important lines of asm for any teen trying to emulate their demoscene heroes.

And don't forget Mode X

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_X

Re: I converted my demoscene font collection to PNG and put it on GitHub

#53

Post by wyldfire »

teddyh wrote: post #3
ianhanschen wrote: post #2

After seeing a few of the sites go down it seemed like a good idea to put it under source control. I don't claim rights to any of these works.

> I don't claim rights to any of these works. That’s not how copyright works.

I don't understand your objection.

Disclaiming the rights is a matter of clarification for those who might consume the works in the repo. The archiver is making it explicit that they cannot publish the works under $YOUR_FAVORITE_LICENSE because the works aren't theirs to license.

Disclaiming the rights doesn't grant any license nor does it protect the archiver from infringement claims. I don't think there was any suggestion that was the case.

Re: I converted my demoscene font collection to PNG and put it on GitHub

#55

Post by kqr »

ctdonath wrote: post #26
zeta0134 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My very, very loose understanding is that bitmap fonts in the US have a bit of a special protection against copyright, with the logic being that their public utility outweighs the benefit of enforcing these restrictions. Vector fonts not so much, but as these are all in PNG form, they seem exempt: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/fonts-faq/part2/ IANAL, this is a US-based understanding and other countries have different rule…

Having dealt with font legalities (IANAL) while writing a bare-metal printer driver: rendered characters are not copyrightable. Method of rendering may be, but not final output.

So does a bitmap specifying which pixels to light up count as a rendered character or a method of rendering?

Re: I converted my demoscene font collection to PNG and put it on GitHub

#57

Post by bombcar »

userbinator wrote: post #39
zeta0134 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My very, very loose understanding is that bitmap fonts in the US have a bit of a special protection against copyright, with the logic being that their public utility outweighs the benefit of enforcing these restrictions. Vector fonts not so much, but as these are all in PNG form, they seem exempt: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/fonts-faq/part2/ IANAL, this is a US-based understanding and other countries have different rule…

Vector fonts not so much, but as these are all in PNG form, they seem exempt I believe this is also why all the free vector fonts (that look almost if not exactly identical to famous, $$$ ones) can exist with no legal trouble --- if someone renders to bitmap a paid font and then traces it, the resulting vector font is then considered a work of that person instead. In other words, the copyright is on the exact point p…

That’s an interesting point - if a work goes through a non-copyrightable version you can copy subsequent derivative works and make your own copyrightable thing.

Re: I converted my demoscene font collection to PNG and put it on GitHub

#59

Post by meling »

Cool that people still keep such stuff! I was part of the demoscene way back in the late 80s-early 90s, and I just clicked randomly on some of these fonts and one of them looked familiar. However I couldn’t tell if it was one that my friend (in our demo group that I’ve long since lost touch with) had made or if I saw it in someone else’s demo... this was not a time where we concerned ourselves with archiving our work for future generations to watch. And it would be impossible to find out since my parents kept asking me whether or not to keep my old Amiga that was sitting unused for years ... and I ignored their questions and eventually they threw it away... I’m just glad Bitcoin hadn’t been invented yet — haha.

Re: I converted my demoscene font collection to PNG and put it on GitHub

#60

Post by skrebbel »

herodoturtle wrote: post #43

This is such a cool passion project, thanks for sharing your collection with us. Will bookmark this one for sure. It's great to see remnants of the demoscene pop up like this from time to time. I'm sure there are many of us relative old-timers here that got their first taste of graphics programming thanks to those demoscene BBS tuts from back in the day (Denthor of Asphyxia anyone?). Just the other day I was reminisc…

> remnants

It's alive and kicking!

ps. did you know that Denthor is also South African? I wonder where the .za scene went after the nineties

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