Are you following #fontlicensingjuly?
JoyceKetterer
Posts: 813
I'm answering one question a day about font licensing on twitter till August 15th but calling it #fontlicensingjuly. Feel free to submit questions here.
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Comments
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Yup… waiting for mine about licensing for eBooks. Or did I miss it? :-)0
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@Claudio Piccinini I saw it but it's a hard one for me to answer as phrased. I simply have no idea how many models there are. I can tell you my model and a few others. I can expound on my evolution about pdfs (we don't charge extra anymore) but I felt like that wouldnt satisfy your request0
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eBooks! Happy to pitch a question about that on Twitter. But generally, I personally do not think that books in PDFs should be considered as eBooks for the purposes of licensing. Yes, there are plenty of books that are sold as PDFs, but “eBooks” of books seem to me to be dynamic (the text reflows to suit the device the reader is using, as well as the reading device), while a PDF does not do that. Nevertheless, many font providers – in their descriptions of their eBook licenses – include PDFs there. Moreover, they often do not mention PDFs anywhere else. Even if one is going to view “books” sold as PDFs as an eBook in terms of licensing, that PDF seems to be a different kind of animal to me than, for example, the instructional manual for a new wireless keyboard that an electronics company might have on its site as a free download. Yet, for some foundries, that instruction manual needs the same eBook license a novel in PDF form would need.3
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Speaking solely as a continuity nerd, I think if you don't charge a product license for a printed book you shouldn't charge and ebook license for a pdf book. If you do charge for pdf embedding then that's a reasonable charge - we don't. I like my system of rules clean and easy to remember. But that's not the question @Claudio Piccinini asked.5
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The user and all related content has been deleted.1
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Dear Joyce:
Can lettering artworks be protected by copyright law?0 -
@Vasil Stanev - Thank you for taking the time to ask a question. Unfortunately, I'm not a lawyer. So I'm restricting myself to answering only questions that have a sales and customer support component.
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JoyceKetterer Thank You for replying!
What is the best way to earn a living with lettering remotely? I tried using solcial networks and exposure, but no big results so far. 
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@Dan Reynolds: That is actually interesting as personally I value proper eBooks in non-reflowing, PDF format. Clearly they are two different conceptions, but an eBook that does not have a (fixed) typesetting, and where text can flow in less readable and odd ways is not a proper book to me.
@JoyceKetterer: Well, your policy (Darden studio, right) sounds wise to me, and your replies are very useful anyways.0 -
@Dan Reynolds: That is not to say the common eBook formats (reflowing) are not useful, but I see them more useful for technical text, non-fiction and not as a proper substitute, but rather as a complementary tool, to an ordinary book and/or a PDF eBook well laid down in terms of layout/design of the page(s). 0
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I just asked this question in a separate thread, but what about Canva and similar online graphic design platforms that allow users to upload fonts for use there?
I signed up for Canva just to to see how this works. You can upload your assets (logos, photos, etc. to the site to create simple design projects. You can also upload fonts. Canva has a perfunctory popup with a checkbox where you confirm that you "own" the font. To the average user that probably means "I paid some money, so yes, I own the font" without being aware of the finer points of licensing.
What I find particularly disturbing is that you can collaborate on Canva. So nothing prevents the holder of a single user license to upload a font to Canva, and then make it available to a ton of collaborators.
I'm troubled by this, but I'm unsure what to do about it. Most folks probably use Canva because they're looking for a simple, low-cost tool. I'm not going to be able to sell them a server license. I also feel prohibiting use of my fonts on Canva will do nothing to stop this, and will just alienate customers.
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I 100% agree that collaboration is the problem. I think someone will sue canva to make them stop permitting it. I'll see if there's a way for me to comment on this on Twitter3
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More (great to know), thanks to Mr. Slye.
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Yup. These "online suites" are a head scratcher to me…JoyceKetterer said:I 100% agree that collaboration is the problem. I think someone will sue canva to make them stop permitting it. I'll see if there's a way for me to comment on this on Twitter0 -
I always hate it when people promote their Twitter feed here. This time the mix-up of TypeDrawers and Twitter went to the next level. I am not sure if I should be happy or sad.
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Maybe we need to convince Canva to sell font licenses limited to use in Canva.JoyceKetterer said:I 100% agree that collaboration is the problem. I think someone will sue canva to make them stop permitting it. I'll see if there's a way for me to comment on this on Twitter1 -
I think I'll just start selling Canva-specific licenses and see what happens. Alternatively, as I found out by way of this support request, there are ways to break fonts so they don't work with Canva 😁0
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I’m not sure how you see this as "promoting one's Twitter feed". That is ridiculous. I just found pretty important and interesting the informations shared by Christopher Slye.Ben Blom said:I always hate it when people promote their Twitter feed here. This time the mix-up of TypeDrawers and Twitter went to the next level. I am not sure if I should be happy or sad.1 -
BTW, I did not click "disagree" on your post myself… When I disagree, I always discuss. ;-)Ben Blom said:I always hate it when people promote their Twitter feed here. This time the mix-up of TypeDrawers and Twitter went to the next level. I am not sure if I should be happy or sad.1 -
It beats typing everything twice, if you ask me.Claudio Piccinini said:I’m not sure how you see this as "promoting one's Twitter feed". That is ridiculous. I just found pretty important and interesting the informations shared by Christopher Slye.2 -
Thanks Christopher. Next time I guess I’ll have to re-type just your quotes.Christopher Slye said:
It beats typing everything twice, if you ask me.Claudio Piccinini said:I’m not sure how you see this as "promoting one's Twitter feed". That is ridiculous. I just found pretty important and interesting the informations shared by Christopher Slye.0 -
@Claudio Piccinini I think that comment was directed to me. I'll take the hit, sure, I was "promoting" my Twitter feed. I'm pretty excited by how much interest my decision to take font licensing questions for a 31 day month has attracted. This is my home community, where I've been welcomed and treated with gratitude for my contributions to the knowledge base on font licensing - I wanted to share it with y'all.7
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I think that, aside from your possible commercial field interest as a representative of Darden Studio, that was a useful question to start discussing to begin with (and not one where answers are given for granted, as I see on Twitter). So I was surprised by Ben Blom's perceiving it as a sort of "adulteration" of the message board.JoyceKetterer said:@Claudio Piccinini I think that comment was directed to me. I'll take the hit, sure, I was "promoting" my Twitter feed. I'm pretty excited by how much interest my decision to take font licensing questions for a 31 day month has attracted. This is my home community, where I've been welcomed and treated with gratitude for my contributions to the knowledge base on font licensing - I wanted to share it with y'all.
At worst one could lament self-promotion for releases, but there is a section for these…0 -
Discussing font licensing and terms is of general interest to type designers, font vendors, and many users of fonts.
Although Darden Studio’s licensing terms are less restrictive than some, I don’t think a general discussion of licensing terms is a simple promotion of Darden Studio. I think it is telling of Joyce’s attitude and approach that in these discussions, she isn't selling simpler/easier licensing terms to end users (licensees); more often she is having discussions with her fellow licensors about why more liberal or at least simpler terms are better for them as licensors, and not only better for end users.
If Joyce were just trying to maximize the competitive benefit to Darden Studio, she would be promoting this licensing to end users in different kinds of fora, not here to type designers and her peers, internally within the type biz.
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Gee thanks, @Thomas Phinney. But I think the most interesting posts are the ones when I can answer questions from customers. Maybe that's just cause those are the ones I learn the most from0
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Sure—and pointing type designers and fellow licensors here on TypeDrawers to that thread where you are answering such questions are of value to them, at least as much as you, is all I am saying.
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Honestly, I was a little disappointed that this whole thing turned out to be “this is what we do at Darden Studios”, and not much of a conversation or reflection on what, and why, someone else may choose a different approach. But that’s just me. It’s interesting nevertheless.0
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@frode I'm really sorry you read it that way. It's the opposite of my intention. I make a point of answering the broad "why are fonts like this?" questions and I try really hard to provide answers that will be useful for a customer licensing from someone else. However, I'm not an archivist or a socialologist so there's a degree to which I am stuck speaking to my own experience. I get the most latitude on Sundays when I pose rhetorical questions for contemplation. Do you have any suggestions?0
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