I have a question for all you Pythoneers out there. I'm making a game
with Python, and have a need for fonts. I am currently using a free
TrueType font, but am considering switching to a bitmap font instead.
Let's say I own a font, and use it in a paint program to 'draw some
text' on a picture that I slap up on the Internet. Everything's
probably fine, right? But what if I draw some text on a bitmap on the
hard drive, add drop shadows and decorations, and use it to 'blit' text
in a game? The answer is less obvious to me then.
Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated!
--Kamilche 10 1670
Kamilche wrote: I have a question for all you Pythoneers out there. I'm making a game with Python, and have a need for fonts. I am currently using a free TrueType font, but am considering switching to a bitmap font instead.
Let's say I own a font, and use it in a paint program to ....
Typically you don't "own" a font, but you have a license to use it.
You need to read the license to figure out what you are allowed to do
with it.
--Scott David Daniels sc***********@a cm.org
On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:08:28 -0800, Kamilche wrote: I have a question for all you Pythoneers out there. I'm making a game with Python, and have a need for fonts. I am currently using a free TrueType font, but am considering switching to a bitmap font instead.
Let's say I own a font, and use it in a paint program to 'draw some text' on a picture that I slap up on the Internet. Everything's probably fine, right? But what if I draw some text on a bitmap on the hard drive, add drop shadows and decorations, and use it to 'blit' text in a game? The answer is less obvious to me then.
Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated!
Free legal advice you get from non-lawyers on Usenet is worth 10% of what
you paid for it.
But generally speaking, for what it is worth (10% of nothing), you can
distribute *images* you design which happen to incorporate text from a
font, but you cannot distribute the font itself UNLESS the font is
provided under a licence which explicitly permits you to re-distribute it.
It is highly unlikely that any judge will be fooled by a mere change in
format ("but Your Honour, I converted the TTF file into a bitmap"). Adding
decorations and such merely means you have created a derivative work of
the font, which the licence may not permit.
I suggest that you use a font which comes under a clearly free to
distribute licence, or you design your own.
--
Steven.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, as well. Showing all the text on an
image is one thing... using that image as the basis of a font engine is
something different.
Luckily, someone has sent me a link to a set of free TrueType fonts - http://www.gnome.org/fonts , the 'Vera' family. I guess I'll turn those
into bitmaps to stay out of the gray area.
I have other reasons I want to use a bitmap font, other than licensing
issues.
Steven D'Aprano wrote: It is highly unlikely that any judge will be fooled by a mere change in format ("but Your Honour, I converted the TTF file into a bitmap").
If that were true, almost the entire X11 bitmap font collection would
be illegal. Fonts aren't subject copyright, just the hints in most
outline fonts, which are considered computer programs.
Ross Ridge
Ross Ridge wrote: Steven D'Aprano wrote:
It is highly unlikely that any judge will be fooled by a mere change in format ("but Your Honour, I converted the TTF file into a bitmap").
If that were true, almost the entire X11 bitmap font collection would be illegal. Fonts aren't subject copyright, just the hints in most outline fonts, which are considered computer programs.
In the interest of adding some specifics: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/fonts-faq/part2/
--
Robert Kern ro*********@gma il.com
"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
-- Richard Harter
On 10 Feb 2006 09:08:28 -0800
"Kamilche" <kl*******@comc ast.net> wrote: Let's say I own a font, and use it in a paint program to 'draw some text' on a picture that I slap up on the Internet. Everything's probably fine, right? But what if I draw some text on a bitmap on the hard drive, add drop shadows and decorations, and use it to 'blit' text in a game? The answer is less obvious to me then.
In fact, the answer depends on what country you are in.
In the United States, the actual visual images of the
characters in a font are not copyrightable material. You can
do anything you like with them.
TrueType, however, adds an extra wrinkle, because a TT font
is actually a *program* to create those images. However,
you can escape this entirely if the only thing you use is
the *rendering* of the characters. You could, for example,
create an entire *bitmap* font at a given font size, by
cutting and pasting output from a TT font.
Using the *name* of the font may be a bit stickier, because
it may well be trademarked (i.e. if you generated your
bitmap font from the FooBar(TM) TTF, you may not be able to
call your font FooBar, though you may get away with calling
it TooBar, or some such thing. Certain fonts that have wide
use in the free-software community, such as the "Lucida"
series have had this problem.
So far, this is all good news for you. But in fact, fonts
can be copyrightable under the laws of some nations, so you
could get into a sticky area just because of that.
I think that even in that case, though, you'd be okay with
just about any font you have a legal right to use.
So, I personally consider that reason enough to prefer free
fonts, and there are quite a few of them available. Many of
them are quite nice. Unfortunately, of course, there is
*not* as much selection as would be nice, and it would be a
great thing if more free-licensed typography was available.
But it is, of course, hard and exacting work that not many
people know how to do well.
Finding truly free-licensed fonts can be a bit difficult
because there are so-many "sort of" free fonts that it
clutters the field. Several good fonts are included in the
Debian Linux distribution, though, and of course, they had
to get debian-legal's stamp of approval to get there, so
they are indeed free. Otherwise, you have to look harder,
and read carefully.
Cheers,
Terry
--
Terry Hancock (ha*****@Anansi Spaceworks.com)
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com
On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 20:24:34 -0800, Ross Ridge wrote: Steven D'Aprano wrote: It is highly unlikely that any judge will be fooled by a mere change in format ("but Your Honour, I converted the TTF file into a bitmap").
If that were true, almost the entire X11 bitmap font collection would be illegal. Fonts aren't subject copyright, just the hints in most outline fonts, which are considered computer programs.
This may come as a shock to you, but the USA is not the entire world, and
the US government's decision to exclude typefaces from copyright
protection is anomalous. In almost the entire rest of the world,
typefaces (the design of a font) are able to be copyrighted, and so are
fonts whether they are bitmapped or outline (with or without hints).
See, for example: http://www.typeright.org/feature4.html
In any case, even in the USA, hinted fonts are copyrightable, and merely
removing the hints (say, by converting to a bitmap) is no more legal than
whiting out the author's name from a book and claiming it as your own.
Of course, like all these issues, the actual decision of a judge and jury
in the USA is uncertain -- who knows whether they will consider a
bitmapped version of a TTF font to be a derivative work or not? So even in
the USA, unless you want to spend big dollars on legal fees, the best
advice is to stick to fonts which are distributed under open licences.
--
Steven.
Steven D'Aprano wrote: In any case, even in the USA, hinted fonts are copyrightable, and merely removing the hints (say, by converting to a bitmap) is no more legal than whiting out the author's name from a book and claiming it as your own.
That's an absurd comparison. By making a bitmap font from an hinted
outline font you're only copying the typeface, you're not copying the
hints, the computer program, that's the only part of the font that's
subject copyright. If a book consisted of two parts, the first a play
by Shakespeare, and the second a commentary of that play, and someone
copied only the first part, they'd be doing nothing illegal.
Ross Ridge
On 2/11/06, Steven D'Aprano <st***@removeth iscyber.com.au> wrote: On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 20:24:34 -0800, Ross Ridge wrote:
Steven D'Aprano wrote: It is highly unlikely that any judge will be fooled by a mere change in format ("but Your Honour, I converted the TTF file into a bitmap"). If that were true, almost the entire X11 bitmap font collection would be illegal. Fonts aren't subject copyright, just the hints in most outline fonts, which are considered computer programs.
This may come as a shock to you, but the USA is not the entire world, and the US government's decision to exclude typefaces from copyright protection is anomalous. In almost the entire rest of the world, typefaces (the design of a font) are able to be copyrighted, and so are fonts whether they are bitmapped or outline (with or without hints).
See, for example: http://www.typeright.org/feature4.html
In any case, even in the USA, hinted fonts are copyrightable, and merely removing the hints (say, by converting to a bitmap) is no more legal than whiting out the author's name from a book and claiming it as your own.
This is absolutely wrong. It is perfectly legal to extract the
non-copyrightable elements of a copyrighted work (the typeface itself,
in this case) and do whatever you want with it.
Of course, like all these issues, the actual decision of a judge and jury in the USA is uncertain -- who knows whether they will consider a bitmapped version of a TTF font to be a derivative work or not? So even in the USA, unless you want to spend big dollars on legal fees, the best advice is to stick to fonts which are distributed under open licences.
I'd say this is a case that isn't uncertain at all. The lack of
protection for typefaces is not a loophole or unclear convention -
Congress and the copyright office explicitly refuse to extend
copyright protection to typefaces. The loophole, in fact, is the
protection of hinted fonts, which are only protected to the degree
that they are "computer programs", because they are *not* protectable
as fonts, period. Saying it is uncertain is not intellectually honest,
in my opinion.
Now, I personally feel that this is a case where Congress made a poor
decision on all counts - TTF files are a prime example of programs
that should not be copyrightable (mechanical implementation) , and
typefaces should be. But that's not the state of affairs in the US.
-- Steven.
-- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list This thread has been closed and replies have been disabled. Please start a new discussion. Similar topics |
by: Buddy |
last post by:
Hello,
How can I use the 'System' or 'FixedSys' font in my .NET
application using controls (TextBox, Button and ListView)?
Thanks,
|
by: Mike M |
last post by:
Hi all,
Attempting to do css for cross platform/browser compatibility. Have an issue
with IE6 sp1 running on NT4.
When using IE6 sp1, example 1 works fine, example 2 produces unreadable
text. Rectangular blocks and symbols. Is this unreadable serif font deal a
known bug? Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks,
|
by: ryan.mclean |
last post by:
Hi all! I was hoping someone could help me out. What I would like to
do is use a font that is not installed on the server, but does reside
in my local web. Does that make sense? I would like to take the
responsibility off the server administrator and put it back on the
developers. I realize I may be asking for the impossible, but any
ideas are appreciated.
The application is creating an image object and Response.OutputStream
them.
|
by: Adry |
last post by:
Hi,
I've a component (DLL COM) that retrieves Fonts system's folder by calling
SHGetSpecialFolderLocation / SHGetPathFromIDList windows API.
Using this component from VB 6.0 it's all OK.
Using this component from ASP, it is not able to retrieve Fonts system's
folder (returns an empty string).
If I assign to the ASP application "administrator" rights (in IIS), the
component returns the Fonts system's folder OK (c:\windows\fonts).
|
by: Aaron Gray |
last post by:
Is there anyway to get a list of all the availiable fonts in Javascript ?
Aaron
| |
by: ctclibby |
last post by:
Hi all
Have a customer that wants a specific font included in her web page
design; Comic Sans MS. This is one of the MS core fonts. The problem
I have is that some of the *nix browsers do NOT include these fonts by
default.
http://www.diamondvet.com/test renders those fonts correctly using an
XP box. After I installed those fonts on my machine, firefox and
mozilla both rendered them correctly. So here is the question:
|
by: Nobody |
last post by:
As fellow developers, I'm sure most of you have built a "bag of tricks" or
classes or whatever over the years that are well tested and "bullet proof".
What is the legality of taking such classes with you from job to job? Is
this a "don't ask, don't tell" type thing? the "bag of tricks" in my
question was being worked on long before I joined company X, although
enhancements and additions where done on company X's time as well as my own
time...
|
by: Gary |
last post by:
1. I've installed a bunch of fonts in main application, which is in native
C++ code using AddFontResourceEx
2. A C# application is launched from this main application, but failed to
enumerate those installed fonts.
My issue is that I don't want those fonts to be used outside of the main
application so that I've set the font characteristics as FR_PRIVATE. However,
I want the C# application be able to use those fonts. Although the C# app...
|
by: Vincent |
last post by:
I work for a software company who develops a Microsoft Access based
application. I am currently in the process of designing a scheduler
for this application and really like the design of the recurrence form
in Microsoft Outlook. What is the legality of mimicking this form in
our own application? In the course of researching other scheduling
software, I have come across software that almost completely
replicates this form. If there are...
|
by: marktang |
last post by:
ONU (Optical Network Unit) is one of the key components for providing high-speed Internet services. Its primary function is to act as an endpoint device located at the user's premises. However, people are often confused as to whether an ONU can Work As a Router. In this blog post, we’ll explore What is ONU, What Is Router, ONU & Router’s main usage, and What is the difference between ONU and Router. Let’s take a closer look !
Part I. Meaning of...
|
by: Oralloy |
last post by:
Hello folks,
I am unable to find appropriate documentation on the type promotion of bit-fields when using the generalised comparison operator "<=>".
The problem is that using the GNU compilers, it seems that the internal comparison operator "<=>" tries to promote arguments from unsigned to signed.
This is as boiled down as I can make it.
Here is my compilation command:
g++-12 -std=c++20 -Wnarrowing bit_field.cpp
Here is the code in...
| |
by: Hystou |
last post by:
Overview:
Windows 11 and 10 have less user interface control over operating system update behaviour than previous versions of Windows. In Windows 11 and 10, there is no way to turn off the Windows Update option using the Control Panel or Settings app; it automatically checks for updates and installs any it finds, whether you like it or not. For most users, this new feature is actually very convenient. If you want to control the update process,...
|
by: tracyyun |
last post by:
Dear forum friends,
With the development of smart home technology, a variety of wireless communication protocols have appeared on the market, such as Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. Each protocol has its own unique characteristics and advantages, but as a user who is planning to build a smart home system, I am a bit confused by the choice of these technologies. I'm particularly interested in Zigbee because I've heard it does some...
|
by: isladogs |
last post by:
The next Access Europe User Group meeting will be on Wednesday 1 May 2024 starting at 18:00 UK time (6PM UTC+1) and finishing by 19:30 (7.30PM).
In this session, we are pleased to welcome a new presenter, Adolph Dupré who will be discussing some powerful techniques for using class modules.
He will explain when you may want to use classes instead of User Defined Types (UDT). For example, to manage the data in unbound forms.
Adolph will...
|
by: conductexam |
last post by:
I have .net C# application in which I am extracting data from word file and save it in database particularly. To store word all data as it is I am converting the whole word file firstly in HTML and then checking html paragraph one by one.
At the time of converting from word file to html my equations which are in the word document file was convert into image.
Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveDocument.Select();...
|
by: adsilva |
last post by:
A Windows Forms form does not have the event Unload, like VB6. What one acts like?
|
by: 6302768590 |
last post by:
Hai team
i want code for transfer the data from one system to another through IP address by using C# our system has to for every 5mins then we have to update the data what the data is updated we have to send another system
| |
by: bsmnconsultancy |
last post by:
In today's digital era, a well-designed website is crucial for businesses looking to succeed. Whether you're a small business owner or a large corporation in Toronto, having a strong online presence can significantly impact your brand's success. BSMN Consultancy, a leader in Website Development in Toronto offers valuable insights into creating effective websites that not only look great but also perform exceptionally well. In this comprehensive...
| |