RE: New work on fonts at W3C

On Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:20 PM Brad Kemper wrote:
> 
> On Jun 18, 2009, at 9:50 AM, Adam Twardoch wrote:
> 
> >
> > It's not the same product. In the concept of copyright, as has been
> > universally adopted by the majority of the countries worldwide, and
> > which has been the basis of many millions of people's income in
> > several
> > decades now, a contract that grants you specific rights must
> > explicitly
> > enumerate the "fields of usage". You cannot sell or buy rights for
> > "all
> > sorts of use and media to come".
> >
> > Rights to publish a book are sold by the author separately from the
> > rights to make a movie out of it -- and this is good so.
> 
> That is not the same thing. When I buy a font, I can use it virtually
> ALL of my designs across a wide swath of media, including TV and PDFs,
> but not on Web pages. Monotype is taking advantage of that to squeeze
> a few dollars more out of designers/authors/etc. simply because they
> can. I don't deny its their right. I'm just saying that if I have to
> buy the same face design a second time, I'm more likely to buy from
> someone else, and that Monotype's greed should not be a rational for
> how standards are set.
> 

You didn't buy a font, you bought the license to use it for certain
number of users and for certain purposes. The cost of the license may
differ based on the intended use and on the number of users. Producing a
media content such as printed wedding invitation, published book or
graphics, PDF, TV advertisement, etc., may require different licenses -
for example, it may depend on whether you intend to use a font for
personal use or 'for profit'. However, these types of uses do not
require distribution rights - the copy of a font you licensed remains in
your possession at all times. Web use scenario does require distribution
rights, and requires completely different license. And the cost of a new
license will likely be different for those who want to use a specific
font on their personal web page, or for fonts used for commercial
websites.

We value You as a customer, but as a consumer, I respect your rights to
do business with whomever you choose. 

With kind regards,
Vladimir

Received on Thursday, 18 June 2009 22:07:48 UTC