"Please note: I'm a copy­right liti­gator and a type designer. Still, the surrounding discus­sion is not legal advice. Rather, it's a summary of how I reason about certain issues in U.S. copy­right law that affect me as a partic­i­pant in the font industry. Some of my views may be widely shared; some may be shared by no one; some may turn out to be completely wrong. I treat the terms font and type­face as func­tional synonyms."
"Recently some other partic­i­pants in the type-design industry asked me to endorse a letter to the U.S. Copy­right Office about copy­right regis­tra­tions for digital fonts. The impetus was a set of concerns arising from ongoing rejec­tions of font-copy­right regis­tra­tions and a recent opinion in a case called Laatz v. Zazzle pertaining to the infringe­ment of font copy­rights. I didn't add my name to the letter."
An industry participant declined to endorse a letter to the U.S. Copyright Office about copyright registrations for digital fonts for three reasons: to avoid doing free work for larger companies; never having registered a copyright in personal fonts; and a belief that digital fonts probably lack copyright protection. The participant identifies as both a copyright litigator and a type designer and states that the surrounding remarks are not legal advice. The participant treats the terms font and typeface as synonyms and disclaims availability for private legal consultations. The participant notes that no U.S. court has directly ruled on digital-font protection and that fonts have traditionally been excluded from copyright.
Read at Matthewbutterick
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