Creating My Own Font?

[driz]

Hi, I have a certain font that I really like, but it's a corporate-designed font and nobody can use it but the corporation.

1.) Is there a font creation software package that will allow me to input JPG images of this corporate font, make subtle changes to it, and create my "own" font?
2.) Is there anyone on this list who can do this for me, for not a lot of money? :-)
3.) Is there copyright law I can read which describes the legality of modifying and re-using fonts?

I've looked hard for a suitable replacement, but nothing comes close, especially with specific styles (numerals, small "s", small "l", small "g", etc...)

Thanks,
JL

[mwenz]

It is illegal to do if it is a copyrighted font, and it likely is. It doesn't matter how you go about it.

Mike

[driz]

It is illegal to do if it is a copyrighted font, and it likely is. It doesn't matter how you go about it.

Mike

Thanks.

How can all of those free "look alike" fonts be distributed if they are so close to a copyrighted font? How can they look so close to the original without using the original as a reference?

In other words, how do you create a "look alike" font without "starting with the original?"

Is there U.S. Copyright law I could read on this? There has to be a way to do this legally, no?

[mwenz]

A copyright is a copyright. Read your own sources for a copyright.

Most so-called free fonts are rip-offs. For instance, Bitstream was sued and lost for what they did in the 1990s with other foundries fonts. So it was with several other sources.

Fonts are software. In the US, copyrights on fonts are less stringent for fonts designed and produced in the US than all other parts of the world. But the actual font itself and any print from those designs carry a copyright.

Do what you want. Just don't ask for some kind of blessing to do so.

[ss-kalm]

Have a look at this page at the Graphic Arts Guild ... https://graphicartistsguild.org/tool...ted-legalities

Particularly the paragraph that begins "There is an absolute rule that copyright does NOT cover type fonts" ... Although that may or may not be absolute garbage. However, Monotype's ARIAL and Eduard Hoffman's HELVETICA are so similar as to be almost indistinguishable.

Or this WIKIPEDIA entry
"The idea that typefaces cannot be copyrighted in the United States is a well-settled law with a long history.[citation needed] Based upon the decision in Eltra Corp v. Ringer, and the clear and explicit actions of Congress, the status quo regarding typeface copyright has remained unchanged.[citation needed] Under U.S. law, typefaces and their letter forms or glyphs are considered to be utilitarian objects whose utility outweighs any merit that may exist in protecting their creative elements. Typefaces are exempt from copyright protection in the United States (Code of Federal Regulations, Ch 37, Sec. 202.1(e); Eltra Corp. vs. Ringer)."

How legal either of these items are, is up to you to determine.

[driz]

Thanks SS-KALM. I think I'm getting a pretty good idea of what's safe, and what's "infringement" WRT fonts. Someone gave me a list of 1000's of open source fonts, some of which are reasonably close to our design goals, which can then be squished, tweaked, stretched, and chopped into the precise style we want. I think the essay is correct -- you can't copyright a font style, but you can trademark it. And in U.S. trademark law, it doesn't necessarily have to be formally registered to be "trademarked" i.e., common law trademark. Have learned a lot today :-)

So now we're looking through a ton of open source font styles, finding those "close" to our design goals.

[Barbara B]

Hi kengleong, and welcome to TalkGraphics (I think),

Kengleong, I am not trying to single you out here, but all your posts since you signed up for tg have consisted of little more than "Hey, everybody, thanks for sharing..."

Which is okay. What is NOT okay is that when you've chosen to share, you post a link to Mobile 9 Short Quotes?!

If you've joined to become a member of our community, please do so now. If you believe that tg is a place where you can just advertise free of charge, you're mistaken and if you post something similar again on tg, your account will be deleted and you'll be banned.

I myself like the topic of this thread, on the legality of copying commercial fonts, and would like to see it continue. And I'm not even selling short quotes.

[gwpriester]

It is illegal to do if it is a copyrighted font, and it likely is. It doesn't matter how you go about it.

Mike - I am not certain of this because it has been too many years, but my memory is that what was copyrighted is the name of the font but not the actual design of the type. Way back when, there would be commercial fonts that you would specify from a text sample book to your typesetting company and that many of these were identical but had different names. Maybe OG Gare can remember if this is true or not.

[mwenz]

In America, you are correct as regards the shape of the font characters, they are/were deemed "utilitarian" in our courts. But the underlying code, is a protected thing. Which is why Bitstream and several others were sued and lost. Bitstream would merely appended the letters BT at the end. Other foundries which fully changed the names also lost. Some of the foundries that lost used prints to create the outlines.

I don't know which font the OP was referring to. But, that it is a corporate font brings a different level of legality intoned situation. If that font is used in a trademark, logo, word mark or service mark, then I suspect that if this corporate entity discovers it and cares, it is actionable. Even if the court sided with the OP--and the OP could afford to get to the end of the legal process--would it be worth it for a few measly characters he mentions?

Mike