CompuServe Messages

[Continued] It may depend on how the typeface is copied. I am not aware of a legal impediment in the U.S. to re-digitizing the letter shapes from their printed form (except possibly design patents, as I mentioned in my previous note). There may be a copyright interest in the digitally coded form of the letters. I believe that the Copyright Office has balked at this, but I think that if the matter was pressed a court might find a copyright interest. Thus, copying the encoded form of the characters may be an infringement. There may be other impediments to be considered. I don't know if these typefaces are sold/licensed subject so some sort of agreement not to do certain things (if so, enforceability of such agreement could also be an issue). If one wanted to distribute typefaces coded in a compatible way, one ought to consider whether there is a patent relating to the encoding used. In identifying the typefaces, one would want to consider the trademark interest in the names associated with many popular typefaces. <END OF THREAD> It appears to me that both the encoding of fonts and license agreements are the *real* protection against font copying. In short, "Tripp's Typefaces" is not likely to make its debut anytime soon!