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 <div class="gmail_quote"> 2008/11/7 <<a href="mailto:openfontlibrary-request@lists.freedesktop.org">openfontlibrary-request@lists.freedesktop.org</a>> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Send OpenFontLibrary mailing list submissions to        <a href="mailto:openfontlibrary@lists.freedesktop.org">openfontlibrary@lists.freedesktop.org</a> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit        <a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openfontlibrary" target="_blank">http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openfontlibrary</a> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to        <a href="mailto:openfontlibrary-request@lists.freedesktop.org">openfontlibrary-request@lists.freedesktop.org</a> You can reach the person managing the list at        <a href="mailto:openfontlibrary-owner@lists.freedesktop.org">openfontlibrary-owner@lists.freedesktop.org</a> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of OpenFontLibrary digest..." 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 <<a href="mailto:cfynn@gmx.net">cfynn@gmx.net</a>> Subject: Re: [OpenFontLibrary] Font, design copyrights To: Open Font Library <<a href="mailto:openfontlibrary@lists.freedesktop.org">openfontlibrary@lists.freedesktop.org</a>> Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:49146861.90208@gmx.net">49146861.90208@gmx.net</a>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed <a href="mailto:Fontfreedom@aol.com">Fontfreedom@aol.com</a> 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 <<a href="http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/fontutils/fontu_129.html" target="_blank">http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/fontutils/fontu_129.html</a>> 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 <a href="http://www.tjc.com/copyright/typeface.html" target="_blank">http://www.tjc.com/copyright/typeface.html</a> (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" <<a href="mailto:dave@lab6.com">dave@lab6.com</a>> Subject: Re: [OpenFontLibrary] Font, design copyrights To: <a href="mailto:cfynn@gmx.net">cfynn@gmx.net</a>, "Open Font Library"        <<a href="mailto:openfontlibrary@lists.freedesktop.org">openfontlibrary@lists.freedesktop.org</a>> Message-ID:        <<a href="mailto:2285a9d20811071114j6375c59evce3e5ba481d4bcba@mail.gmail.com">2285a9d20811071114j6375c59evce3e5ba481d4bcba@mail.gmail.com</a>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 2008/11/7 Christopher Fynn <<a href="mailto:cfynn@gmx.net">cfynn@gmx.net</a>>: > >> 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 ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ OpenFontLibrary mailing list <a href="mailto:OpenFontLibrary@lists.freedesktop.org">OpenFontLibrary@lists.freedesktop.org</a> <a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openfontlibrary" target="_blank">http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openfontlibrary</a> End of OpenFontLibrary Digest, Vol 35, Issue 21 *********************************************** </blockquote></div>