RE: A way forward

On Mon, 2009-07-27 at 12:04 -0500, info@ascenderfonts.com wrote:

> We do not intend to require that the browser do a same-origin check,
> although we think such a check has value. We are hoping that our customers
> for EOT Lite fonts will reasonably restrict access to the font software from
> web pages not originating from their web server.

> This benefits customers who want to protect their bandwidth and possibly
> their brand by limiting hotlinking or deeplinking to their site's resources.

That is very smart for it is entirely realistic
and also very fair to your customers ("we are hoping that").

Now, if a particular customer either deliberately
or accidentally comes to be a significant hub for
unauthorized "hotlinking" - and you point this out
to them and they can fix it but refuse to fix it - then
I think you have an uncomfortable situation with that
customer (mumble something about "contributory infringement").
I think that bears some resemblance (though a different
legal analysis) to the problem in the email world of 
"open relay mail servers".

In any event, it sounds like you folks at Ascender
are ahead of the curve in terms of clarity of thought
about the issues before us.


> It also benefits us as a font vendor in minimizing use of the font software
> by unlicensed websites.

Yes, and, egregious failures by a customer to not
impose that barrier when problems are seen - or
a customer who lowers that barrier specifically to
cause problems - would give you a reluctant cause
of action.   Obviously, it is the furthest thing from
our minds that any serious customers are at all likely
to fall into that problematic category.

You attitude towards customers seems to be that
you'll sell them sticks handy for making interesting
shelters.  Yet if they turn around and try to beat
you with those sticks, or just recklessly stack
a bunch of them up such that they fall on your head - 
then you'll have to step up and resist that and
the law will very likely be squarely on your side.


> Again, the licensing issue is not specific to EOT-Lite. It impacts .ZOT and
> .webfont or any other new web font format in the same way.
> 
> 
> Bill Davis
> Ascender


Thank you for one of the more lucid accounts of
a good deal for a font vendor I've seen come around
on the list.

-t

Received on Monday, 27 July 2009 18:01:31 UTC