Revivals?

Fernando Díaz

Hi,

I was wondering how much time I have to wait to create a digital revival of a printed typeface?

I have an original Stempel sample of a typeface from the 40's that I want to re-make.
Linotype already has a digital version (the only one). Is there a time frame for this kind of thing? 
How does this work?

Thank you.

George Thomas

European protection is much stronger than in the US but my opinion is, and I am not a lawyer, if it is from the forties and you don't call it by the same name you will probably be OK.

Fernando Díaz

Thanks George, what's with the names trademarks?
http://www.monotype.com/legal/trademarks

The font that I want to re-make is on this list, so its registered, but only in USA?
I never understood font naming trademarks... I thought they where by country

Robin Mientjes

You could of course ask Monotype. They might be biased, but if you go in blindly you might find their bias legally weaponised. Anyway, seventy years is really close to a lot of copyright claim expiry times, so who knows, it might be ‘safe’ when you’re done with it.

Dan Reynolds

If you release a font with the same name as a font someone else has already trademarked – even if the design looks totally different – you can expect to receive a cease and desist letter from a lawyer representing the trademark-holder.

Nick Shinn

I think there is enough “transformative” (in the copyright sense) work required by digitizing a font from a letterpress printing, to constitute an original design—provided that (a) the model is not overly idiosyncratic, (b) the re-working has a strong overall interpretation, and (c) you change the name. Ultimately you have to be the first judge of whether you’re just lazily swiping someone else’s design or have provided a genuinely transformative new work, and your peers are the second judge—upon that depends your reputation and brand.

I don’t think there is any legal issue (other than re-using the original name), because the notion of intellectual property in typefaces applies only to digital files; things may be more strict in some European countries, I’ve heard, but I doubt that this kind of “revival” would warrant prosecution (disclaimer: I am *only* a type designer, not a lawyer!)