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- Path: sparky!uunet!think.com!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!agate!violet.berkeley.edu!ghelf
- From: ghelf@violet.berkeley.edu (;;;;RD48)
- Newsgroups: comp.fonts
- Subject: Re: copyright and typeface design
- Date: 27 Jan 1993 16:24:42 GMT
- Organization: University of California, Berkeley
- Lines: 19
- Message-ID: <1k6d0a$8rk@agate.berkeley.edu>
- References: <1993Jan21.172248.13913@bsu-ucs> <1082@rtbrain.rightbrain.com> <1993Jan27.043323.9535@ucl.ac.uk>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: violet.berkeley.edu
-
- So, essentially, if I "drop-n-drag" or "trace outline" using a font editor
- I am essentialy swiping someone else's _code_ (and any little hidden
- "extra" code will be included). But on the other hand if I print and scan
- the _output_ and recontruct it from scratch (the only way to get a good
- recreation anyway), then we are into the very gray "look-n-feel" area.
- Certainly nobody can _copyright_ the geometry of a "b" from courier ("that's
- Microsoft's circle and bar, son!). Similarly, while importing a kerning
- table is again swiping _code_, nobody can copyright the combination of
- characters (Microsoft owns the "WA" combination?). Essentially, if I can
- recreate a font without ever reading the original code directly using a
- font editor, I have not stolen any _code_, rather I have been "inspired" by
- the look of a font to generate my own version.
-
-
- --
- Gavin Helf
- UC Berkeley Political Science
- Berkeley-Stanford Program in Soviet Studies
- ghelf@violet.berkeley.edu
-