What to do about our fonts after we die?

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  • Koksiroj - Joris Kok
    Koksiroj - Joris Kok Posts: 3
    "I hereby leave my eldest with the burden of figuring out how to keep selling my Totally Not Helvetica™ to the world if it hasn't figured out how to make font licenses understandable."
    Easy fix
  • Miles Newlyn
    Miles Newlyn Posts: 248
    Koksiroj - Joris Kok said:
    "I hereby leave my eldest with the burden of figuring out how to keep selling my Totally Not Helvetica™ to the world if it hasn't figured out how to make font licenses understandable."
    Easy fix
     :D:D  
  • Andreas Stötzner
    Andreas Stötzner Posts: 792
    Jasper de Waard said:
    … your insistence on the importance of me not having kids. In my view, this is an 'ad hominem' argument suggesting that my opinion is somehow less valid or important than someone else's because of who I am. …
    just to clarify this:
    • I have not been ‘insisting’ on anything.
    • I have not made any ad hominem remarks about you personally.
    • I have merely stated that “to have children or not is definitely not irrelevant for the point. […] If you raise a child, this certainly influences your view on certain things. ”

    Furthermore, I have made no statement against taxation in general. But you have proposed to “tax the hell out of inheritance”, which expresses a the idea of deducting as much property as possible from as much people as possible. – This is not my idea of a civil society, sorry.


  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,172
    @Dave Crossland
    So really I think the question here is, how would the value of the copyrights to typefaces be assessed in probate?
    Quite. And valuation of intellectual property for any purpose is always pretty vague. I had occasion to discuss this with a registered valuator a few months ago, and basically what tax authorities are looking for is a reasoned explanation of the valuation process, regardless of whether the resulting value is high or low. Whether a valuation is high or low tends to depend on the purpose of the valuation. So valuations for tax purposes, including probate, tend to be low; while valuations for e.g. sale of assets will tend to be as high as the seller can reasonably get them. Then, of course, there is the valuation that is reflected in the price that someone is willing to pay for something, which the market considers the more accurate valuation in the belief that the seller isn’t fraudulent and the buyer isn’t delusional.
  • PabloImpallari
    PabloImpallari Posts: 805
    edited November 2022
    Miles Newlyn said:
     A collection of good fonts is valuable part of our estate after we die, but ensuring its continued financial exploitation in the best interests of our beneficiaries is probably difficult.
    I know that The Type Founders are keen to do deals, but I'm curious if anyone has had thoughts or ideas for the inevitable event.

    Miles!! my friend!!!!      I think that besides your fonts, you should also WRITE a BOOK.

    Not only in the best interest of your beneficiaries, but also in the best interest of graphic and font designers all over the world. A book about your design process (Its unique!!!!).

    I think you are one of the greatest, and for the luck of us, you are still alive!!!

    Consider this tradition:
    - Rand Holub: Signatures and Trademarks
    - Mortimer Leach: "Lettering for Adevertising" and "Letter Design"
    - Samuel Wello
    - Michael Harvey
    - Doyald Young Books

    I think!!! you are next in the list... together with Ken Barber you can and you will rock it!!!
    We want to know how you come up with those great ideas!!

    I dont know... I'm already took 4 whiscolas this afternoon! But I think you rock big time Miles!!!

    Also: Good thing happen to your fonts after they become Libre, they get a live of their own. Consider it. It feels great!!!

    Love You!!! Cheers!!!

    Write Your Book Miles!!!!!


  • Russell McGorman
    Russell McGorman Posts: 262
    Ray Larabie said:
    @Eris Alar I suppose they could go there. But someone who hasn't been flattened by an elephant would have to place those fonts into the public domain, and I don't think they'd have the authority to do that.

    Surely the executor, if instructed to do so in the will, has that authority. 
  • Miles Newlyn
    Miles Newlyn Posts: 248
    Pablo, my old friend  <3
    Thank you. 
    We need to catch up, atypi?
    Will connect offline
    X

  • PabloImpallari
    PabloImpallari Posts: 805
    Miles Newlyn said:
    Pablo, my old friend  <3
    Thank you. 
    We need to catch up, atypi?
    Will connect offline
    X

    Yes, yes.. we need  B)

    By the way... I forgot about Cecil Wade in the list
  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,429
    edited December 2022
    Ray Larabie said:
    I wish there was a digital locker where I could store public domain versions of my fonts. Every five years, I'd be required to log in to prevent them from being released. Then when I get crushed by an elephant (probably how I'll die) they'll get released into public domain without requiring the Disney mandated interval.
    The non-digital version of this is just to add a line or two in your Will about your intention, possibly assign a specific executor who has the relevant domain knowledge to carry it out (I'll be happy to ;) ) and possibly then a fund from the estate to claim expenses against.

    Robots are good, but when they aren't available, hired labor works perfectly well.


  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,172
    Yeah, but the special executor can only spend 30 seconds looking at the fonts, and then has to stand in a high pressure shower for half an hour.
  • Simon Cozens
    Simon Cozens Posts: 735
    I think that’s what would happen if someone was asked to dispose of my fonts, yes.
  • konrad ritter
    konrad ritter Posts: 204
    Oliver Weiss (Walden Font Co.) said:
    A type designer of my acquaintance recently had a severe stroke, so this topic has been going around in my mind as well. 
    Isn't that what happened to poor Justin Howes, and that's how his beautiful Caslon revivals went lost forever? Such a tragic loss, in so many ways. 
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,006
    @konrad ritter I assume you refer to ITC Founder’s Caslon? What do you mean by lost?
  • konrad ritter
    konrad ritter Posts: 204
    I mean that apparently he also did revivals for Caslon 8 and Caslon 10, and a few more cuts in addition. In fact, I got his specimens (for 8 and 10) on this very site, some years ago. I think the Wayback machine had an archived version of his old website, where you could see that the ITC Founder's cuts were only about a third of what he had made. 
  • Florian Hardwig
    Florian Hardwig Posts: 268
    @konrad ritter You’re right: the ITC release comprises four (12, 30, 42, 96pt) out of a total of fourteen optical sizes (8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 22, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 60, 72, and 96pt) produced by Justin Howes, plus the ornaments. The other fonts were once available from Howes’ own label, H W Caslon & Co. Ltd. I’ve amended our typeface bio at Fonts In Use with more detailed info and links.
    Here’s the TypeDrawers thread you mentioned, with pdfs for the 8 and 10pt sizes kindly shared by @John Nolan.

  • konrad ritter
    konrad ritter Posts: 204
    Thank you, Florian. Much appreciated. Also, glad to see that Justin's work is being brought to the world's attention again. 
  • konrad ritter
    konrad ritter Posts: 204
    edited January 2023
    That would be terrific. Thank you for letting us know!

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