Publishing Fonts based on Logos

philippbauer

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.

PabloImpallari

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

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.

Ray Larabie

I’m not a legal expert, but I do have considerable experience in creating various logo inspired fonts. There's definitely a risk involved, so you’ll need to assess how much risk you’re willing to take. One key piece of advice is to be cautious with naming. For instance, when Prince shut down numerous Prince-inspired fonts and issued cease-and-desist notices around 2000, they didn’t take action against my “Still Time” font. This font, inspired by the “Purple Rain” album cover, was frequently listed among free Prince-related fonts. The crucial difference was that, unlike the others, “Still Time” didn’t have a Prince-related name. (It's named after a Ron Sexsmith song) That said, I haven’t encountered many issues with other fonts, except for one inspired by Metallica. Technically, I did nothing wrong with “Pastor of Muppets,” but it wasn’t worth the hassle to defend a free font I didn’t even favor, especially since it included a Disney trademark in the name. This highlights the importance of steering clear of famously litigious subjects. I once created a font inspired by the Star Wars logo (the inspiration of the inspiration) and had a conversation with someone I can’t name around the time Disney acquired the IP, which spooked me into changing the font’s name to something completely unrelated. The name wasn't a Star Wars trademark, but it sounded a bit like one, and I figured I was pushing my luck.

Avoid using the subject's trademarks in the font name. It’s tempting, but it’s a legal minefield. I see it done frequently, but it’s just inviting trouble. For years, I avoided mentioning the names of the subjects in descriptions for riskier fonts. For example, I described “Still Time” as being inspired by various 1980s album covers. It wasn’t entirely honest, but it was necessary for protection. Older logos or versions no longer in use can seem like fair game, but caution is still needed. When I created “Pastor of Muppets,” Metallica had changed their logo, so I thought it was safe to use a design they were no longer using. However, a few years later, they reverted to their original logo and they turned famously disputatious around that time.

Despite these challenges, don’t be discouraged from creating logo-inspired fonts. As a kid, I was captivated by logos and imagining what the rest of the letters looked like. Over the years, bands like AC/DC, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Led Zeppelin have incorporated my fonts into their websites and licensed products. As I kid I was drawing their logos on my schoolbooks and now those bands are using them…I never could have imagined. My only regret is not being more careful about naming. If I could do it again, I’d choose names completely unrelated to the subjects. No matter what you do, you can't stop someone from sending a C&D letter. I've been doing logo-inspired fonts for 28 years, and it's only been a problem once but, do what you can to stay safe.

Nicole Dotin

Also, consider whether the logo you want to turn into a font was already derived from a font. If that's the case, it seems like there are better sources of inspiration out there without even touching the potential intellectual property issues.

davidm

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.