Posts Tagged copyright

Font Copyright Infringement – Protect Yourself and Your Brand

Font copyright infringement

What? What is that all about? Anyone who has designed social media graphics, posted photos to blogs and websites, etc. has encountered information about art and photo copyrights. But font copyright infringement may be new to many of you.

When you hired a graphic design and marketing firm to develop your brand and design your logo you also may have received a brand standards guide. In that brand standards guide, the graphic designer provided names of the fonts utilized for your visual brand. Intentional use of fonts and colors is key to establishing visual consistency in all communications and media promotions.

If you are designing images connected to your brand you will want to purchase licenses for the fonts. Fonts are designed by independent graphic designers and type foundries. Therefore, fonts hold copyrights and require licensing. Much like we do not own our domain names for our corporate websites, we do not ‘own’ fonts. These days with the cloud and digital marketing, discovering font copyright infringement is much easier than it has ever been.

Use of Fonts on Products and Apparel

This is also very important if you are selling products that use fonts. Whether you are designing and selling decorative signs, t-shirts with professional lettering, and any digital artwork for download and reproduction be sure to check the copyright of the fonts you use. Some sublimation printers come with software and fonts that may allow unlimited use, fonts you find online may not. Be sure to check the usage license on all fonts you use. If you are designing products or digital graphics for the mass market, learning to design your own original fonts may be fun. Another option is looking for font designers on Etsy and other marketplaces. Original font designs by freelance artists may be less costly and have more flexible licensing than the large foundries.

Keep in mind, even if you design a clever typographical design, font copyright is different from fine art or graphic design copyright. Just varying the fonts size, color or using a combination of bold, italic, small caps, etc. in a typography design is not enough to claim originality. Protect yourself, read all font licenses very carefully.

Font Copyright Infringement is a Honey Hole for Foundries

Font copyright infringement by individuals and corporations is often done by mistake because of an under licensed or unlicensed font. An innocent mistake doesn’t mean they get off with a warning though. Some foundries look for infringement and get as much revenue from enforcement as from normal licensing! There are now automated bots that can scan for font usage in web pages and posted PDFs. The public seldom learns of lawsuits for font copyright infringement because most are settled out of court.

Although there are some tricks like converting fonts to outlines or only using open-source fonts, etc. it is best to play it safe.  So when you need us to create a new team member business card and your brand font is not up to date or licensed please don’t blame your brand design team for adding a font license fee. It’s not revenue for us. It’s protection for your company and brand and it’s an homage to those clever coders and typeface designers who need to feed their families too.

For more information, we referenced this article on Communication Arts for this blog post. 

Google Images Are Not Free Use… and Other Copyright Issues

Charlotte Area Biking Walking Map - Connection Group
A copyright is a form of Intellectual Property as are patents and trademarks. Copyrights are the most common form of we encounter in everyday business and personal use. We learned about copyright and plagiarism when compiling our first report for grade school. The same rules apply with internet content.  You research multiple sources to gain an understanding of the subject or a clear visual and then interpret it in you own words or creation. When you add a direct quote or paraphrase content, seek permission and include the credit where it occurs and also at the end.

When you use photos or graphics do your best to contact the original creator to get permission for use and always name the artist underneath the image. We often have customers send us images they have found in Google Images. Unless you have permission to use these visuals from the original artist they are not legal for use in your digital or print marketing pieces. I know Google makes it really easy, one search and you find the most awesome artwork ever! But hands off unless you want to get slapped with a copyright infringement.

If hiring a photographer or a graphic design studio to create original images is not in your budget for small projects, there are other options online. Many stock photo websites have visuals, including videos, that companies can purchase for use in their blogs, websites and corporate marketing pieces. The graphics and photos vary in size, resolution, cost, plus have levels of permissions and use. Be sure to read agreements closely prior to purchasing and downloading. Most of the restrictions with stock art is that you do not use it for use on items you will be reselling. For instance an original rendering of an owl you purchase and download can be used on your website, brochure, and all your company brand items however you may not be able to print greeting cards with the same owl on it and offer them for resale. Connection Group holds some subscriptions to a few stock art sites and if you are looking for a particular subject Connection Group may be able to purchase them for your use and save you from the sometimes high cost of subscriptions that you don’t plan to use frequently.

Knowing the high amount of copyright abuse on the website you may want to add the copyright symbol and user agreement on your website. Obtaining copyrights for your original work is easy and inexpensive. Go to copyright.gov and for $35 you can apply for legal ownership of your creations online. Having a copyright on your website or printed piece doesn’t ensure your original work will not be stolen, but it does give you legal grounds to take legal actions if you find someone has infringed on your copyright.

For more answers to common copyright questions this page has a pretty comprehensive list. Otherwise, if you don’t know – don’t do it.