Publishing Fonts based on Logos

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this forum. I have been creating fonts for quite some time and have often visited this forum. Today, I need your help. I haven't released my fonts yet because I'm unsure about the legal situation. My typefaces are inspired by logos from TV series, games, movies, and fictional brands. While I started with a few letters from the original logos, I designed the remaining characters myself.

I'm concerned about potential legal issues. However, I have noticed that many designers do exactly this—creating fonts based on logos from games, comics, and TV shows, and publishing them on platforms like DaFont or MyFonts. They often use names similar to the original source and include disclaimers like "This font is not affiliated with Company XYZ."

I would like to ask for your advice. Does anyone know the legal situation regarding this? Has anyone here done something similar? And is there a difference between the USA and the EU?

I'm looking forward to your responses.

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Comments

  • PabloImpallari
    PabloImpallari Posts: 804
    edited July 20
    You're unlikely to get into trouble for how your font "looks".  What can most likely cause you problems are the "words" you use in the font description, for example if you mention a particular trademark, brand, company or person.
    Writing a "explicit, but no too explicit" font description is an art form in itself.
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,149
    edited July 20
    Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. And for the record, Pablo is not a lawyer either. :)

    Logos and logotypes (stylised word presentations representing company or product name) are typically registered or claimed as trademarks, so a font that is based on a logo or logotype design may be a trademark infringement. This potentially gets you into a dangerous area because, unlike copyright or patent protection, there is a ‘defend it or lose it’ obligation attached to trademark in the USA (probably in some other jurisdictions too). This means that companies are more actively protective of their trademarks than they might be of other assets.

    While you may get some anecdotal advice in this or other forums, ultimately this is a question you should direct to a lawyer in your jurisdiction or in the jurisdiction where you are considering publishing the fonts.
  • davidm
    davidm Posts: 4
    While I am not a lawyer, I can share the legal advice we received when we faced a similar situation. Note that we're based in the UK, where typeface designs are protected by copyright, as this makes a big difference.

    We noticed a brand launch with a logo built using one of our library fonts alongside a custom font which was remarkably similar to said library font. It was already on our radar as they had previously contacted us for a quote for licensing.

    Our lawyer confirmed that the copyright protection of the typeface design is not erased by passing through a non-infringing stage, such as the typeset artwork of the logo, and that here we likely had a case.

    We contacted the foundry responsible for the custom font, who confirmed that they had been asked to design a custom font based on the logo, and they settled with us immediately.

    So the moral of the story is: if you want to design a typeface based on a logo, always confirm the legal status of any typeface that was used to design that logo before you begin.

    We are frequently asked to create fonts based on logos, and we have to do the due diligence before we can agree.