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You wouldn't steal a font

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Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#91

Post by pessimizer »

WillAdams wrote: post #12
charcircuit wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't copyright a font.

A typeface design, in the U.S., no, but the digital font file comprising outline data and instructions, according to current U.S. law, for an overview of current case law and a proposal see: https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/chtlj/vol10/iss1/5/

If it were the same file, it wouldn't be a "knock-off." It would be something like Optifonts. Very frowned upon, but definitely not illegal. Also, the kerning is usually trash, there will be way too many nodes in the vectors, and things may be missing. Annoying to work with, but in the case of Optifonts, free (because they're long out of business.)

http://abfonts.freehostia.com/opti/

https://luc.devroye.org/fonts-27506.html

Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#92

Post by tptacek »

phony-account wrote: post #24

Is this the wrong time to rant about font licensing though? I’ve always bought and paid for fonts, but as I’ve gradually transitioned to mobile app development, I one day realized that all the fonts I bought for print are now worthless to me. These crazy outdated licenses that let you print as many magazines or books you want forever, for a one-time price. But if your hobby is making apps, then suddenly the same font…

There is maybe nothing in the entire world that I am less sympathetic towards than the cause of font piracy / font liberation. You have perfectly good --- in fact, historically excellent --- fonts loaded by default for free on any computer you buy today. Arguing for the oppression of font licenses is, to me, like arguing about how much it costs to buy something at Hermès. Just don't shop at Hermès.

Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#93

Post by pixl97 »

hyperbovine wrote: post #3
dporter wrote: post #2

I would, and I have.

It's fresh takes like this that keep me coming back to HN, year after year.

I mean how many articles do we have a week where the AI vendors are copying the entire internet and using it for training.

There is a significant portion of the internet that is perfectly fine with copying every bit of digital data and using it as their own.

Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#94

Post by rglover »

I would happily pay for any font if I could get individual weights for say $5-$10 and entire families for $20-100 with any usage I want (print, web, etc). I feel like font foundries would print money this way. But for most projects, $300+ for a nice family (that can only be used in a hyper-specific context) is just insane when many free or cheaper alternatives exist.

Used to waste time and money with foundry stuff until Google Fonts caught up. Now I typically source something from there unless it's essential to the design.

Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#95

Post by temporallobe »

jll29 wrote: post #19

What saddens me is that a lot of people are so ignorant that they don't even realize a font is something that takes creativity, tradecraft and a lot of work/time/effort to design.

No kidding. As part of a mapping project I worked on, I created a set of 200+ custom SVG icons. I used Inkscape and hand-drew most of the shapes or modified existing glyphs from icon fonts or other raw vector graphic sources. This took months of work and planning, and I even figured out how to use Inkscape’s batch scripting API to automate some things. It was one of the most tedious things I’ve worked on and I am very proud of it. And as far as I know, it’s still in use today by the customer.

Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#96

Post by kstrauser »

cyberpunk wrote: post #27
jll29 wrote: post #19

What saddens me is that a lot of people are so ignorant that they don't even realize a font is something that takes creativity, tradecraft and a lot of work/time/effort to design.

I remember trying to explain to some colleagues why I paid about 100 bucks for the font I use and why I wouldn’t share it with them and they just couldn’t get it. (It’s Berkeley mono). I don’t even know how many glyphs it is (it’s thousands) but for something I’m looking at for 6-8 hours a day, every single day and is the absolute peak of perfection (at least to me), 100 bucks seems like a fucking bargain to me. shru…

Same for me, same font, same logic. The author put a lot of hands-on work into making something I stare at all day long. I even just bought a license for a friend for his birthday because I love it.

But I'm not sharing my copy with anyone else. This isn't insulin or something. They'll be just fine without it.

Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#97

Post by Suppafly »

codedokode wrote: post #83
Suppafly wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What saddens me is that a lot of people are so ignorant that they don't even realize a font is something that takes creativity, tradecraft and a lot of work/time/effort to design. Except most of the creative part was done 100 years ago and companies are now trying to protect the fact that they digitized something that has existed for a century or longer.

Not every font is digitized from old samples.

They are still mostly derivative works in basically every sense.

Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#98

Post by neilpanchal »

testing1235 wrote: post #88
neilpanchal wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, Berkeley Mono supports most Western European languages, can you tell me what's missing? I can add it. Btw, the tagline is about the aesthetics. :)

Hi Neil, I'm not that person you replied to but in my projects I require Cyrillic glyphs for Russian and Ukrainian texts. Also when checking out your website just now, I wasn't able to add a Berkeley Mono App License module in your ordering system. I assume I need a App License to embed the font in my app? But I also can't seem to find any information about the app license itself on your site as well.

Cyrillic is not supported so Berkeley Mono might not be suitable for your application. Are you building a Web app (Webfonts) or a Desktop/Mobile app (App license)? Please email me.

Re: You wouldn't steal a font

#99

Post by Suppafly »

kccqzy wrote: post #81
Suppafly wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>shrug I guess these folks never sold something they made completely by themselves maybe. Not saying font designers shouldn't get paid, but they mostly aren't making things "completely by themselves", they are mostly making derivative works from things that exist, without any consideration for the original authors.

What do you suppose they should do to the original authors? Perhaps the original author is Claude Garamond who died in the sixteenth century? Or the unknown workers who carved the inscription at Trajan's column in the second century AD?

So you understand the issue, it's derivative works all the way down.
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