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[Hajo]

I recently had the idea to create a colored bitmap font. Being lazy, I fired up wordpad, typed the characters that I needed, made a screenshot of the text, cropped, edited and colored the characters.

A result can be seen here: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=167.msg305406#msg305406

Now I feel uncertain about the copyright. In the case above the font (a truetype font) was GPLed, so I guess the worst would be that the image is GPLed too (derived from a copyleft work, the font?), best would be that the GPL does not transfer from the font file to the bitmap - in either case it deemed me safe to show the bitmap to illustrate my question.

I also did the exercise with another font, which has a traditional copyright.

I guess doing this for study and practicing is alright, but can I use those bitmaps in my projects? Or would that be a copyright violation?

[Dacke]

Copyright infringement? Yes, I'm quite sure it is.
If you use a font that is already on the user's computer, you get around that. But if you pass along an image with the font, you don't.

But, as long as you aren't doing anything commercial you..
.. can get away with it.
.. aren't doing anything morally wrong.
.. won't get into any real trouble.

But using truly free stuff is always a good way to support the people who supply the free stuff. So if you have the time, finding some free fonts would probably be a good thing to do. That, or learning how to use fonts found locally on people's computers.

[Hajo]

I think I'll paint my own font then. This will keep me safe.

For the font used in the picture above I think it's alright to use, still:

Bitstream Vera Fonts Copyright

The fonts have a generous copyright, allowing derivative works (as long as "Bitstream" or "Vera" are not in the names), and full redistribution (so long as they are not *sold* by themselves). They can be be bundled, redistributed and sold with any software.

Full version:
http://www.gnome.org/fonts/

I also added this to my message in the other thread, just in case.

[Movius]

As far as I'm aware only the .ttf is covered by the fonts copyright/patent, but not any images created by using the font. (so bitmap fonts are ok)

[Hajo]

As far as I'm aware only the .ttf is covered by the fonts copyright/patent, but not any images created by using the font. (so bitmap fonts are ok)

I had heard so, too, from other game developers - someone mentioned he needs to prerender all texts and bundle them with his game, since he cannot include the font file. And this confusion was actually why I felt the need to ask for advice.

[Hajo]

no, this is nonsense. if you copy a song from CD to tape, the copyright still stands on the song. just because you change the way it is stored, doesn't mean anything. it's not on "the file", it's on the font itself.

Ok, thanks for clearing this up.

Also thanks for the links to the free fonts repository! I think the Vera Bitstream license is already quite free and would allow me to use the font as bitmap in a project of mine, but it's always good to have more options

for non-commercial projects i don't think this is going to be a problem at all. i wouldn't worry about it...
however, if you're going to take it commercial in any way - my recommendation would be to find a font without any licensing restrictions.

So far all my projects were freeware or open source. But who knows maybe some day I have an idea that can be sold

[Christian Knudsen]

there are a whole bunch of 100% free licensed fonts available at http://www.dafont.com/ . you can filter the fonts by license type - GPL, commercial, completely free, etc..!

Awesome link! I've already found a font I want to use.

[Movius]

if you are making a 'fontmap' from a ttf, you're really just converting the font format...

for non-commercial projects i don't think this is going to be a problem at all. i wouldn't worry about it...
however, if you're going to take it commercial in any way - my recommendation would be to find a font without any licensing restrictions.

there are a whole bunch of 100% free licensed fonts available at http://www.dafont.com/ . you can filter the fonts by license type - GPL, commercial, completely free, etc..!

i'd imagine there are more websites around like this, too.

As far as I'm aware only the .ttf is covered by the fonts copyright/patent, but not any images created by using the font. (so bitmap fonts are ok)

I had heard so, too, from other game developers - someone mentioned he needs to prerender all texts and bundle them with his game, since he cannot include the font file. And this confusion was actually why I felt the need to ask for advice.

no, this is nonsense. if you copy a song from CD to tape, the copyright still stands on the song. just because you change the way it is stored, doesn't mean anything. it's not on "the file", it's on the font itself.

typefaces can't be copyrighted at all though. and that is all the rendered image is.

Fonts can be copyrighted because they are considered computer programs, they are the method/machine for rendering the font. This is what is copyrighted not the actual output from this 'program'.

[Dacke]

Fonts can be copyrighted because they are considered computer programs, they are the method/machine for rendering the font. This is what is copyrighted not the actual output from this 'program'.

Hm, really‽ Apparently, in the U.S. some of them can be protected with "design patents", but in many western countries fonts fall under copyright.

But it's quite possible you are correct. It wouldn’t be the first time copyright-related things made absolutely no sense at all.

[Christian Knudsen]

I found this interesting blog entry on the issue:

http://www.krissteele.net/blogdetails.aspx?id=155

Seems the bottom line is that it's a very gray area and it's better just to use free fonts (or make your own fonts) to avoid any legalities.

[floatstarpx]

I would say best to treat it the same way you would any other piece of art/graphics (or other game asset) - and it's not like there's any shortage of free ones to use

[Movius]

Fonts can be copyrighted because they are considered computer programs, they are the method/machine for rendering the font. This is what is copyrighted not the actual output from this 'program'.

Hm, really‽ Apparently, in the U.S. some of them can be protected with "design patents", but in many western countries fonts fall under copyright.

But it's quite possible you are correct. It wouldn’t be the first time copyright-related things made absolutely no sense at all.

It has to be a scaleable font to be covered by copyright, not just a "display this image" type font, (bitmap or otherwise.) the patent thing is true too as far as i can remember.

Personally, I generally draw my own bitmap fonts at low-res or use free fonts if i'm using something more elaborate.

[mona.adele]

I found this interesting blog entry on the issue:

http://www.krissteele.net/blogdetails.aspx?id=155

Seems the bottom line is that it's a very gray area and it's better just to use free fonts (or make your own fonts) to avoid any legalities.

I know German law has specific IP protections regarding calligraphy and typeface, and I believe a couple other European countries have similar laws. But under U.S. law the only copyrightable subject matter is the computer file itself; technically a screenshot of a letter wouldn't constitute infringement under U.S. law or a violation of the GPL because the GPL only applies to the code/file itself as opposed to the font generated by the image.

 

[dbb]

Hey, it's great having an actual lawyer round here to contribute to stuff like this.

What Ms. Adele says concurs with my understanding of the issue: If you legally own a copy of a commercially-produced font, you're allowed to use it in your own works, commercial or not. Otherwise, no commercial fonts would ever get used for anything.

If you think about the position of a company producing printed matter such as books or magazines or whatever this is obvious. I think it's a little fuzzier with digital media, because what you're absolutely NOT allowed to do is to redistribute the font file in a format where it could be reused by someone who has bought your product but hasn't licensed the font. So if you were rendering text as images to use as credits in a movie or in-game captions, that would be fine, but you can't include the .ttf file with the game assets.

As a graphic designer mostly doing stuff for print media (my day job), this can lead to some pretty absurd situations. Like if I email a .pdf to a printing company, I can't embed the font. Either they have to own their own copy of the font I've used, or I have to render all the text as outline vector graphics before sending the .pdf - in the second case, the document looks identical on-screen and in print, but neither I nor the printer are breaking the law (as long as I own a legal copy of the font in question).

[mona.adele]

Hey, it's great having an actual lawyer round here to contribute to stuff like this.

Especially one that just answered this question for a client not terribly long ago. I'm always happy to help and I value the appreciation, so thanks!

[Dacke]

Interesting stuff.

Question: What if I were to develop an alternative way to store fonts? For example, an XML-file that stores vector-information about each letter (the font would be stored as a standard text-file, using text and numbers). I could then go on to design special plugins for programs like OpenOffice and Acrobat, to make them support my new format. I could then convert font-files into the new format, and suddenly be able to re-sell every font in the world without making a copyright infringement.

Or am I missing something?

[mona.adele]

Bear in mind that a lot of font creators have registered their fonts with the USPTO as design patents, so your hypothetical would not apply to those; this is especially true with regard to commercial fonts. Your scenerio also sounds like it may arguably constitute reverse engineering, which may be in violation of the font file EULA.

Gotta keep an eye on the big picture.  

[Dacke]

Oh, right. Thanks! 

[Amirai]

Thank you SO MUCH for finally making this whole 'font legalities' thing clear. I've been trying to get a straight answer on this issue for months!