I love fonts. I love choosing them and looking at them and comparing them. The right font can truly bring a project to life. These days, fonts are plentiful, affordable and beautifully creative but what are the rules as it relates to copyright?
Font vs. Typeface
Before we go into the intellectual property rules, we need to get a couple of definitions down. If I were to ask you to describe your favorite font, you would probably start talking about how the font looks and the characteristics of the letters themselves. Most people would respond the same way. But, in professional typography and in the copyright realm, what we think of as a "font" is really a "typeface." A typeface is the design of the letters themselves while a font is the vehicle by which the letters are rendered. A typeface is what the letters look like and a font is the software that allows you to use the typeface on your devices.
So, is this just pedantry or does this difference matter? Turns out, in the United States, typefaces are not eligible for copyright protections but fonts are. No matter how beautiful and creative your typeface may be, it is established, black letter law that "typeface as typeface" is not copyrightable. [1] The Copyright Office regards typefaces as "mere variations of uncopyrightable letters or words, which in turn are the building blocks of expression." [2] Fonts, on the other hand can and often do include enough original expression to merit copyright protection.
But, what does this distinction even look like in real life? Let's say I found a font online that I liked and it had a chart showing all of the different glyphs. It generally would not be a violation of copyright to print that chart and then manually or digitally trace those glyphs and use a program to make my own font with them. The look of the letters is not protected from copying so, technically, they can be reproduced in this manner. What I cannot do is download the font and exploit or copy the file/rendering/software because that part is usually protected.
If you ask me, this typeface vs. font thing is a strange distinction. Plenty of other countries afford copyright protection to font designers but the U.S. has doggedly refused to change this rule and it has lead to some non-intuitive results. For instance, you may think that, from the looks of the rules outlined above, that only font software designers can register for a copyright since the software is the protectible part. But, from what I can tell, it has been pretty standard industry practice for font designers to create a font using a third-party software, somehow extract the underlying source code that renders their particular typeface and then (usually successfully) register the font for a copyright. So, in plenty of cases the typeface designers are not creating the source code or the computer program but are able to register for a computer program copyright all the same. It appears as if the Copyright Office is fully aware of this practice as they address it directly in their Office Practices Compendium. [3]
So, essentially, we do not allow font designers to own a copyright on the thing they actually designed but, if they can extract a source code they did not design then they can register that. It's a little silly, no?
Silliness aside, In real life, most fonts operate under some sort of license, which is a contract that can exist completely independently of copyright. When I buy fonts, how I can use them is dictated by the terms of the license.
The Takeaway for Crafters
Although it is all fairly convoluted, if you are using fonts in your creative work, make sure that you review the terms of any license agreements and understand the limits of the software and font files. While the way a typeface looks is not protected by copyright, the file you download to render it on your computer most likely is so copying font files, including them in downloads, giving them away - these are all practices that should be avoided.
[1] 37 CFR § 202.1.
[2] U.S. Copyright Office, Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices § 906.4 (3d ed. 2021).
[3] U.S. Copyright Office, Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices § 723 (3d ed. 2021).
Comments