Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Washington

Is it legal to use someone elses font (I.E The kind of text you are reading right now.) in my own work, such as a book or graphic novel. Would doing this be violating their copyright? Or would it be considered a different expression of the idea?


Asked on 8/23/14, 9:06 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

John Whitaker Whitaker Law Group

Your question is a little more complicated than it would seem. The complication comes from the fact that what you are describing is actually two different things: One is the 'typeface' or how the letters look, and two is the font file loaded on your computer that your word processor uses to create the letters. Copyright law protects the font file, but it does not protect the typeface itself. In other words, the software font file that is loaded on your computer and is used by your word processor is owned by its author who can use copyright law to enforce copyright rights against anyone making copies of that actual font file. But once a licensed copy of the font file is used to create a document, such as by writing a book or something, the author of the font file has no further rights to that document. Your license to use the font file comes with an implicit right to sell anything you write using that font file.

Does that make sense? As long as you are using licensed software, no one can come back later and claim to have rights in your work just because of how the letters 'look.'

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Answered on 8/24/14, 11:25 am


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