Copyright, who knows?
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A friend of mine is gonna start a new company in The Netherlands. He hired a freelance designer to design his corporate identity. Today he showed me the results, now I looked at it, and the type looked like a font from a know foundry. Although it looks almost the same as shape, but his curves and style is more condensed than the original font. I have seen the process of building it in steps he saved as pdf. He really designed it himself.
Now my friend is wondering if he can get accused for breaking copyrights, as it looks the same, but in details it isn't the same. Who knows? As I couldn't give him a right answer, but he's still in doubt, as I mentioned it looked like a known font from a commercial type foundry. Who knows about laws and copyright?
- dbloc0
let's see the two logos side by side.
- reaction0
dbloc, irritating is, that I don't have it here, my friend didn't leave it at my place, he just showed it at my laptop.
I was wondering too, how copyright is handled, since it is possible that somebody in japan, comes up with the same as someone in europe.
Although it's technically not the same, it may look visually identikal....
- tuig0
hmm..your friend will not get sued.theyre is no copyright on style...man if that was teh case the lawsuits would be flying allover.
and as you state.it has differences
- dbloc0
really depends on how close it looks to the other logo.
- tuig0
it says its the font from a well known foundry.it -never states the logo's are the same...if so,it depends if they are in the same line of work etc...
- son0
how much money you talkin
everything goes on money
any case can be beat
- reaction0
Tuig is right. The logo looks like the font... or vice versa. But the logo is more condensed and higher shaped than the actual font. The styles looks the same, but technically speaking not the same.. I asked him if i could preview it here, but I have to wait after the weekend. anyway, keep on going...
The company is an entertainment company, and the foundry is Fuse or T26, I am not sure yet.
- reaction0
Anyone knowns about copyright? I let my friend google the whole weekend ;) But he didn't come up with something decent... Too much articles saying it's infringement, other say it isn't... who knows?
- RAM0
I'm pretty sure, without being in to this stuff, that every case is being processed individually so I guess a simple straight anwser is impossible without, at least, the two fonts side by side.
Just a thought.
- MLP0
wouldn't the designer be the one in trouble if any and not the client?
- rabattski0
i'll have to see it first. but based on what you say i'd say don't worry about it. if it's different, it's different. the copyright is for that font, exactly the way it is, if the curves are a bit off than it's not the same font. it's the same with patents, just change one thing and it's not patented anymore. btw if it's a commercial font they can't and won't sue for copyright infringement, they are more likely to send you an invoice for the font.
- UndoUndo0
in terms of style copyright looks at the number of differences between the two items. If there are a substantial number of differences between the two items then everything should be fine.
The other way to look at this is that as long as the designer has bought the font then he is allowed to use it where he likes!
- rabattski0
but it's just a typeface issue right?
- reaction0
Yes, and the problem for me is, that both are friends of mine (cliënt and designer). And since I am not involved myself, I couldn't give him this decent advice.
The trademark itself is not the issue. It's the font, that he (the cliënt) was worried about.
- rabattski0
again, don't worry about it, if the designer can show he really designed it himself then there will be no case. there is also a thing called inspiration.
- tyfighter0
Don't know if this is of use -
Do a search for legal aid it's in the features section.
- reaction0
tyfighter.. good article, but still there's no one sided guideline for this. anyway, hope more people will respond to this thread.