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Licencing etc
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:16 pm
by Mike Thompson
I just received a query asking if my font Mike Hebrew
could be used for commercial purposes. My immediate
response would be to say "Yes". My main goal is to have people
use and enjoy the font. I don't see it as an immediate source
of income.
On the other hand... I would prefer discourage others from
taking the design and changing it and calling it theirs.
What is the absolute minimum I should do
a) In the naming and settings within the font itself
b) Small print in my website from which may be downloaded.
I'm asking this after reading other posts on licencing and browsing
sufficient web sites on the topic to make me DIZZY!
Mike
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:57 pm
by Erwin Denissen
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:39 pm
by Mike Thompson
Yes, Erwin, the SIL people have put a lot of effort into that.
What I am concerned about is that I might loose rights if I do nothing
now. At a later stage I might want to sell the font.
Mike
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:16 pm
by Erwin Denissen
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:22 pm
by Dick Pape
I think there is nothing you can really do...
I've seen too many rip-offs of every font in the world~! I have a zillion fonts (less than more!) that I didn't pay a penny for! If I want to make them my own I could put my name in them ... It is so easy to change fonts using tools such as Font Creator that there is little hope in you keeping control of your design.
I believe the best you can do (without knowing what those other links show) is put them on a web where they are advertised for sale. This shows your intent to commercialize your product. You can always point to that action if you find someone stealing them directly.
I believe commercial organizations would tend to pay for what they use. It's the others of us you have to look out for.
Learn also to write pleading letters to font thieves asking "Why did you do this to me? Whatever did I do to you? My children will go hungry because of your actions..." Slowed me down a little when I got one!
Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 10:24 am
by William
> I don't see it as an immediate source of income.
> What I am concerned about is that I might loose rights if I do nothing now. At a later stage I might want to sell the font.
You may not lose rights but you could have a problem if some years later you needed to try to establish that you ever had those rights in the first place or indeed that the font was ever anything to do with you.
Here is an idea. I am not a lawyer, this is just chatting in this forum.
Suppose that you produced a book with an accompanying disc. In the book, the font is displayed. On the disc is a copy of the font.
The book and disc are produced as a publication, maybe half a dozen copies.
As you are in the United States, one copy of the book and the accompanying disc set is sent to the Library of Congress.
Some of the other sets could be sent elsewhere.
The book could be about ten pages, the production method would depend on what you have available locally, both in your own computer system and at any local printshops where you could go and buy services.
There is a popular fallacy that only a company or an established publishing business can publish a book.
William Overington
Publishing a Book
Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 2:19 pm
by Mike Thompson
William, That is a very interesting idea, Mike