A new symbol for design (and font) protection
Michael Gills
Posts: 4
Has anyone else come across this article on Linkedin about a new (D) symbol (like ©, ® and ™️), which, apparently, the European Parliament is proposing to introduce? Or has this been around a while and I just haven't seen it before?
I presume it would only offer protection within the EU. And if it's meant to protect a typeface design, would it appear after the name?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/here-comes-new-symbol-design-font-protection-production-type-44yie/
(I clicked on the "source" link, but it's in French.)
I presume it would only offer protection within the EU. And if it's meant to protect a typeface design, would it appear after the name?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/here-comes-new-symbol-design-font-protection-production-type-44yie/
(I clicked on the "source" link, but it's in French.)
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Comments
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Send it through Google Translate; it is quite lengthy.
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would it appear after the name?If akin to the copyright and publication symbol, it would be associated with the design rights holder and date, not the typeface name (which would still be associated with trademark). In that case, I would expect it to come first as with the copyright symbol, so e.g. ‘Ⓓ 2024 Michael Gills’.
The term of the proposed design protection is 5 years, extendable in 5-year increments to 25 years. It sounds similar to design patent registration in the US or industrial design registration in Canada, i.e. a shorter period of time than copyright, and not automatic, i.e. granted through registration rather than being presumed.
PS. The EU parliament document seems not explicitly to mention typefaces or fonts, so I wonder how certain it is that they would be accepted for registration, and also how this interacts with existing copyright protection for typeface design in the EU. In the US, design patent registration is granted to typeface design instead of copyright.3 -
English is an official language of the EU. The English version of the source is https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2024-0165_EN.html and other translations can be accessed, here with the language buttons at the top.The relevant article isArticle 24
Registration symbol
The holder of a registered design right may inform the public that the design is registered by displaying on the product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied the letter D enclosed within a circle. Such design notice may be accompanied by the registration number of the design or hyperlinked to the entry of the design in the register.2 -
What's the Unicode value for this symbol?1
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Ray Larabie said:What's the Unicode value for this symbol?
These symbols have been around since Unicode-Version: 1.1 (Juni 1993)
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Interesting. So perhaps functioning more like the ® symbol than the © symbol.Article 24Registration symbolThe holder of a registered design right may inform the public that the design is registered by displaying on the product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied the letter D enclosed within a circle. Such design notice may be accompanied by the registration number of the design or hyperlinked to the entry of the design in the register.1
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The USA Vessel Hull Design Protection Act of 1998 or Canada’s Industrial Design Act of 1985 already mentioned this symbol.0
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I think we have a really alarming /.notdef situation:
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John Hudson said:I think we have a really alarming /.notdef situation:-1
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Best .notdef ever!2
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Ha! I’ve been using that same design since 2015 and this is the first time anyone’s commented about it.0
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I would say it looks too much like an emoji.
Some of the older Microsoft fonts had unique and creative /.notdef glyphs, but they ended up being replaced with standard ones because users were confused about whether what they were seeing was intentional.
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I was confused at first because I thought the notdef WAS the “mask work symbol”.2
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The term of the proposed design protection is
I'm confused, design rights have been available in the EU for a long time, John?
BTW in https://github.com/fonttools/fontbakery/issues/4770 I began to plan for eliminating non-standard notdef designs from the Google Fonts library.0 -
I'm confused, design rights have been available in the EU for a long time, John?
As I wrote, I don’t know how this new design registration mechanism differs from copyright protection as applied to design, which also exists in the EU. As I also pointed out, the documentation nowhere mentions typeface designs or fonts, so it is possible that it is intended for different kinds of design that are not covered by copyright in the way that typeface design rights are.1 -
I don’t know how this new design registration mechanism differs from copyright protection as applied to design, which also exists in the EU.They are indeed different, and my point stands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_design
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