New to Typophile? Accounts are free, and easy to set up.
Font names: legal problems?
I am currently working on four fonts under the working titles Clampett, Bodine, Drysdale and Hathaway. Now, anyone familiar with 60s TV kitsch will recognize from whence they came.
If I were to market these together in a package, does anyone foresee a phone call from the CBS legal department in my future?
If so, I'd rather avoid such a headache and simply re-name the fonts.
On a side note: Has anyone here ever named and released a font only to discover that name in use by another font?
User login
Support our Sponsors
22 Aug 2003 — 8:29am
> On a side note: Has anyone here ever named and released a font only to discover that name in use by another font?
yeah, me. one of my fonts is called Hybrid. after it's release i've seen at least 2 other fonts that carry the same name.
none of them were licensed by a big foundry though, so i didn't get into any legal bull ... yet.
simon
22 Aug 2003 — 8:34am
> does anyone foresee a phone call
Phone call?! More like a gestapo attack.
hhp
22 Aug 2003 — 12:30pm
I would have to agree.
Its still safer than a "c3po" font might be.
Lucas is NOTORIOUS for pursuing copyright offenders.
I remember in highschool I had a friend who registered www.ilovestarwars.com, not long after getting the site up and running -- which in that time era a website was pratically foriegn to most -- they slapped him with a cease and desist.
hildebrant.
22 Aug 2003 — 12:53pm
I'd disagree. You can use the names for fonts
(Drysdale, etc.) provided no existing trademark
exists in a similar trade channel. However, you can't
use "Beverly Hillbillies" Font Pak or something because
BH is a registered trademark in various classes
and they'd get you for diluting the mark.
bj
22 Aug 2003 — 12:55pm
Tom, btw, curious to see the typefaces.
22 Aug 2003 — 3:01pm
I second what BJ said. "Beverly Hillbillies" is a trademark, so using that might be a problem. But the names of characters on the show are not trademarked; additionally, they are generic, common surnames.
Besides, look how many unrelated movies and TV shows have the same titles.
Paul
23 Aug 2003 — 1:53am
BJ, Paul: I tend to agree. They will not be marketed as the "Beverly Hillbillies Font Pak". In fact, I doubt they will be packaged together at all.
I will post the fonts soon (hopefully) in the Critique section. Clampett, Bodine and Hathaway are relatively complete. Drysdale is giving me fits. Here is a sample:
23 Aug 2003 — 5:27am
Thanks Tom and good luck.
I really like Drysdale. The lc d is daring
and the uc D, did you draw with a mouse*?
bj
23 Aug 2003 — 6:03am
>> and the uc D, did you draw with a mouse*?
I just realized that people who interract via email
would not be able to see that the D is very
Disneyesque, thus the mouse reference. :P
23 Aug 2003 — 6:48am
Haha...I got the first reference! A friend already pointed that out to me. Let's just say it's Disneyesque
23 Aug 2003 — 9:58am
> You can use the names for fonts
Legally, there are a lot of variables, yes. But it's doesn't matter: the gestapo will still make your life miserable.
BTW, I like Drysdale.
hhp
23 Aug 2003 — 5:25pm
Drysdale's my favourite of the bunch, too.
Paul
23 Aug 2003 — 8:37pm
Drysdale is very cool.
Looks very 50s, like something you'd see on Boutique or Hair Salon adverts.
The D is very Disneyish though, I'd say to make an alternate version of it at the least because Disney does not like anything even remotely connected with anything they own.