Quotes for an article

Rob Barba

Given our issues with IP theft, I am expanding an article I was originally writing on Font Installers to include font theft as well.  Thus, I'm looking for anyone who would like to be quoted in regards to this article.  If you're interested in doing so, please feel free to comment below and let me know I can use it in my article.  I'll have the draft up probably around Friday or so, so everyone can see and add points to it, though if your comment is overly long I might have to edit for clarity and length (you know how that goes.)

Thanks for any assistance!

Thomas Phinney

In terms of getting quotes right now, that is very general/generic. If a reporter wants quotes for an article, typically they interview the subject, asking questions or getting comments on specific things.

Of course, once your draft is up, getting comments is a fine way to get quotes.

Rob Barba

Sorry, I should've been clearer: basically, the quotes would be in regards to how you view or how you are impacted by font theft, e.g. how much time is wasted by you playing DMCA whack-a-mole, any demoralizing feelings by having your work just tossed out there to the winds, financial impact to you and your family, and so forth and so on.

Hopefully this should clarify things.

Thomas Phinney

Aha! Yes, that is helpful.

Ray Larabie

I'm not concerned with piracy when it looks like piracy. When someone torrents a RAR containing thousands of fonts, they know they're not intended to be free. The same site has links to Disney movie torrents so I can assume that person is on the hunt for pirated fonts. Some of those illegal downloads lead to lost sales. But some of them also lead to sales. I started making fonts in 1996 using a copy of Fontographer from a Toronto Chinatown CD-ROM which ended up with me spending $800 a few months later on a the legitimate product. I assume similar things happen with pirated fonts. Some designers reading this might have started off with cracked design apps and pirated fonts and eventually moved on or or in the process of doing so. I have 2 concerns:

Pirate font sites resembling free font sites

Pirated fonts are presented as being free. There's nothing to indicate to the customer that what they're downloading is a pirated font. When people download them, they have no idea that a "pay" version exists. I think those sites lead directly to lost sales. Some people who download those fonts would have been willing to pay for them if they knew they weren't legit. If they added a black skull and bones flag to their logo and called it "Font StealAAARRRR.com" I'd be satisfied.

Free font sites hosting pirated fonts

It's similar to the first example but more frustrating. Free sites like dafont.com 1001fonts.com and 1001freefonts.com are maintained by people who do their best to keep pirated fonts away. But most other free fonts sites aren't careful about what fonts end up on their sites. A user submits a pirated font with the license stripped off it claiming it's free and it goes live on the site, unchecked. If you request removal, most of them will comply if you can get past the barriers. Many sites have broken contact forms, no contact email, no contact information whatsoever. Even if you succeed in having the font removed, these sites don't maintain blacklists. A user uploads the same pirated font a few weeks later and it goes up on the site, unchecked.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

Stay away from retail as much as possible.
When your work does get pirated, get over it as fast as possible.

Mark Simonson

I used to work for a public radio network in the US. There was nothing to prevent people from listening without paying--not even IP law--but enough listeners paid to make it work. The font industry is similar in some ways. It exists because of the people who pay for fonts. Those are the only people I care about and I aim to make them happy. It's a complete waste to spend time and effort on people who won't pay.