[OpenFontLibrary] OpenFontLibrary Digest, Vol 35, Issue 21

[jeremy schorderet]

SWITZERLAND INPUT

a lawyer teaches copyright at my school (Lausanne, switzerland)
what i heard:

70 years after author's death, the design/piece of art gets into public
domain





2008/11/7 <openfontlibrary-request at lists.freedesktop.org>

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: Font, design copyrights (Christopher Fynn)
>   2. Re: Font, design copyrights (Dave Crossland)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:10:09 +0600
> From: Christopher Fynn <cfynn at gmx.net>
> Subject: Re: [OpenFontLibrary] Font, design copyrights
> To: Open Font Library <openfontlibrary at lists.freedesktop.org>
> Message-ID: <49146861.90208 at gmx.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>
> Fontfreedom at aol.com wrote:
>
> >  >Why?
> >  >
> >  >Most developed countries including the US offer copyright protection to
> >  >foreign works under under the Berne Convention since 1989 and the
> >  >Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) since 1955.
> >  >
> >  >The works of an author who is a national or resident of a country that
> >  >is a member of these treaties, works first published in a member
> country
> >  >or published within 30 days of first publication in a Berne Union
> >  >country may claim protection under the treaties.
> >  >
> >  >So if something is copyright in a country where it was first published
> >  >the US should recognize that too if that country is also a member of
> the
> >  >Berne Convention.
>
> > I don't see any reason typefaces first released in the UK or Europe
> > would enjoy any copyright protection in the U.S. All typefaces (not
> > fonts) are automatically and immediately public domain in the U.S.
>
> Because it seems that under international copyright conventions
> countries have agreed to respect each others copyright. So if something
> is created in the UK and copyright there it should also be copyright in
> the US ~ whether or not a creation of the same sort created in the US
> would be copyright there. At least this is how the working of the
> conventions was explained to me.
>
>
> >  From what I've read, the only major country which allows copyright laws
> > to apply to typefaces is the U.K.
>
> Germany
>
> <http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/fontutils/fontu_129.html> says:
>
> <<
> Germany
>     Typeface designs have been copyrightable as original works of art
> since 1981. The law passed then was not retroactive, however, German
> courts have upheld the intellectual property rights of font designers
> even for earlier cases. In one case the heirs of Paul Bauer (designer of
> Futura) sued the Bauer foundry for arbitrarily discontinuing a portion
> of their royalties, and won.
>
> Since 1981, many (perhaps most) designs have been copyrighted in Germany.
>  >>
>
>
> There is an international treaty on typeface design protection known as
> the Vienna agreement signed by eleven countries. least four countries
> have to ratify before it takes effect France ratified it in 1974 or
> 1975, and Germany in 1981 - not clear how many other countries have done
> this.
>
> [The Vienna Agreement for the Protection of Type Faces and Their
> International Deposit, reprinted in World Intellectual Property
> Organization (WIPO), Records of the Vienna Diplomatic Conference On The
> Protection Of Type Faces 1973 (1980). See also Andraee Fran(con, The
> Vienna Agreement for the Protection of Type Faces and their
> International Deposit, Copyright , May, 1976, at 129.]
>
> According to http://www.tjc.com/copyright/typeface.html (FN FN186):
> Typefaces are protected under the Italian Design Law of 1940, noted in
> J.H. Reichman, Design Protection in Domestic and Foreign Copyright Law:
>  From the Berne Revision of 1948 to the Copyright Act of 1976, 1983 Duke
> L.J. 1143, 1243 n.525 (1983)
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 19:14:23 +0000
> From: "Dave Crossland" <dave at lab6.com>
> Subject: Re: [OpenFontLibrary] Font, design copyrights
> To: cfynn at gmx.net, "Open Font Library"
>        <openfontlibrary at lists.freedesktop.org>
> Message-ID:
>        <2285a9d20811071114j6375c59evce3e5ba481d4bcba at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> 2008/11/7 Christopher Fynn <cfynn at gmx.net>:
> >
> >> I don't see any reason typefaces first released in the UK or Europe
> >> would enjoy any copyright protection in the U.S. All typefaces (not
> >> fonts) are automatically and immediately public domain in the U.S.
> >
> > Because it seems that under international copyright conventions
> > countries have agreed to respect each others copyright. So if something
> > is created in the UK and copyright there it should also be copyright in
> > the US ~ whether or not a creation of the same sort created in the US
> > would be copyright there. At least this is how the working of the
> > conventions was explained to me.
>
> This makes sense to me.
>
>
> Please improve :-)
>
> >Germany ... France ... Italy
>
> After knowing which countries have typeface design copyright, the next
> fact to establish is the length in time for each country. That's the
> really important information, I think.
>
> Best
> dave
>
>
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> End of OpenFontLibrary Digest, Vol 35, Issue 21
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