RE: Re[2]: pixel fonts

Bill McCoy:

>Again, the precedent that font programs can be copyrighted is something that
>Adobe, Bitstream, and others have worked hard to establish. Adobe has
>successfully pursued a number of cases of font copyright infringement.

Bill I think you are being somewhat disingenious, you know as well as I that 
although Adobe has campaigned to have font programs registered for copyright 
this has never been tested in the US courts (soon we hope, soon) and certainly 
doesn't apply in many (sovereign) states.

Besides that copyright never stopped anyone stealing anything, it enforces after 
the theft has taken place. You know the addage, "prevention is better than 
cure".

>
>Yes, we can and should do more to improve the statutory basis of font
>copyrights in the U.S and other countries... get your cards and letters in
>to your legislators. But, we're in pretty good shape right now.

I'd rather rely on technology to protect my work than politicians, I don't see 
the Chinese government enforcing copyright protection anytime soon. 

The internet opens copyright abuse to the lowest common denominator, ie the 
country with the least protection gets to host all the servers dishing out your 
work. The UK may give me excellent copyright protection for type, the US 
somewhat less, but what about everywhere else, you know, the places that your 
corporate bosses hide their money, the places where perverts take holidays to 
abuse children or the places where terrorists hide?

I'm not suggesting that copyright is in the same league as all these things, 
only to demonstrate that there is no level playing field and that it is the duty 
of all those developing new media applications to work to protect the rights of 
*everyone* (I infer, though maybe too subtley, not just increase their share 
values).

If they can't do that, then they shouldn't be proposing that other people's work 
be distributed via their technologies.


-- Clive

Received on Monday, 12 August 1996 16:26:25 UTC