9fans archive / 1993 / 04 / 20 /    prev next

From: mike@maj... mike@maj...
Subject: Fonts and unicode distribution...
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 14:02:46 -0400

Although fonts themselves cannot be protected, it's likely
that the actual data file representing a particular instance
of a font is protectible.

For example, I dare you to redistribute one of Adobe's Type I
data files.

Consequently, the interesting questions regarding the Plan 9
fonts are:

(1) How did Bell Labs derive the bitmap data?  If they digitized
    the fonts themselves from, say, blown up photographs, they
    are on safe legal ground.  Likewise if they constructed the
    fonts by hand with a bitmap editor.  (Given that these fonts
    look awfully reminescent of the "blit" fonts, I suspect that
    they date to the early 1980's and were constructed by hand.)

(2) How does Bell Labs feel about us using their bitmap data
    files?

The answer to #2 seems to be "Fine, so long as the copyright
notice is preserved on all copies."