Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1514626
1 0 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 4 None of the information below is intended as legal advice since I am not a lawyer. It is presented here solely to inform people in the entertainment industry of some current views about font and typeface clearance and how the United States government deals with this issue. Please consult your studio's current clearance policy for your project because this issue is always in flux among all the studios. Legally, there appears to be a difference between a font and a typeface. The U.S. government states that typefaces (written or printed without a computer) cannot be protected by copyright. This would lead me to believe that if it's taken from a printed book, we would be able to scan it and create our own font from it. I am including below the exact language as it appears on Wikipedia concerning typeface copyrights: The U.S. government states, "Typefaces (written or printed without a computer) cannot be protected by copyright in the United States because they are considered utilitarian objects whose public utility outweighs any private interest in protecting their creative elements, but the computer program that is used to display a font file (computer-generated) of computer instructions in a specific programming language, and its glyphs (letterforms), may be protectable by copyright. The following information is from the copyright office at the National Archives. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/ title-37/chapter-II/subchapter-A/part-202/section-202.1: ยง 202.1 Material not subject to copyright. The following are examples of works not subject to copyright and applications for registration of such works cannot be entertained: (a) Words and short phrases such as names, titles and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring; mere listing of ingredients or contents; (b) Ideas, plans, methods, systems or devices, as distinguished from the particular manner in which they are expressed or described in writing; (c) Blank forms, such as time cards, graph paper, account books, diaries, bank checks, scorecards, address books, report forms, order forms and the like, which are designed for recording information and do not in themselves convey information; (d) Works consisting entirely of information that is common property containing no original authorship, such as, for The Legal Distinction Between Typefaces and Fonts, and How That Affects Productions Important Props One of the most important props was a politically incorrect book about the 'Indian way of life.' In the first film trailer, this played an important part in setting up the overall story and showing the perspective of the white man on all things 'Indian.' Working with property master Matt Cavalliero and his assistant Kim Richey, we put together the book that Leonardo DiCaprio's character is reading by the fire. Production wrote the text and Matt had Ross MacDonald do an illustration for the chapter heading. I then designed the book using some period clip art and old photos from iStock. Since he is reading from it and the pages had to flip to certain parts at A. OSAGE PAGES FROM THE BOOK WILD TALES AMONG THE INDIANS. GRAPHIC LAYOUT. B. MEDICINE BOTTLES. RESEARCH AND LABEL LAYOUTS. A B