I have a request from someone who wants me to modify a single character from one of my fonts for them, but is also wanting exclusivity to the modified design (exclusivity in this case meaning I couldn't publish or resell this modified version; I'm not sure yet if it excludes being able to perform similar modifications for any others who might request it in the future).
Typically, for modified fonts, I've just done non-exclusive. So the client is paying for the design labor required and whatever the standard license is to cover their needs. No exclusivity fees are added into the cost, and I am free to be able to perform similar modification requests for others. (The only thing exclusive is the unique font file and name created for that client.)
Wondering how others typically approach this? If the desire continues for exclusivity with this modification, then I would think the cost would have to multiply quite a bit?
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I guess I’m looking for clarity on what the client wants to be exclusive. Your description makes me wonder if the client is asking you not to license the unique font you make for them, or if they want exclusive rights to the glyph (the design) in that font.
It seems like a fuzzy proposition if the client wants you to alter a glyph you drew (your IP), and sell it to them (making it their IP). Normally I’d look at a situation like this as some version of “Please put our logo into your font, and don’t license that font to anyone else,” but if they’re asking you to, say, “Make the leg of the k curved instead of straight,” then are they asking you to never make a version of your font with a curved k leg, even if you drew a new one? Sure, you could promise to never use that specific k you made for them, but can you never make a similar k?
Sorry if I’m making this too complicated.
It's a little vague at this stage, and I have to discuss more with them, but to summarize the request they asked if the newly designed character will be exclusively licensed to them and not made available on reseller sites or for other customers.
No other terms or details so far. I don't know the depth of exclusivity they're seeking yet. But wondered about the different scenarios and how much I could justify cost-wise if truly exclusive.
So it is restrictive in the sense of the one character just for them, but not so restrictive that I can't do other similar modifications to the same character (or other characters).
But pricing-wise, it sounds like some version of you charging to design a glyph for them, then licensing a version of your font that contains their glyph.
The request is to have exclusive rights with ownership/protection of the exact version of the modified font with the modified character we design.
I would still be allowed to create similar modified versions of that same character for other clients, and also publish or resell those versions if desired. (And obviously, be allowed to continue to sell the original font.)
They just want to own and protect the exact new character design and the new version of the font with it. So I could not use that exact new character design or font ever again.
... I am curious about how much to charge or multiply license costs now, as there may be a very large gap from the original quote we discussed because at that time it was only for a basic, non-exclusive Desktop license with just a few users.(?)
Again with the logo scenario: If a client came to you with an EPS logo and asked, “Can you put our logo in your font, for our exclusive use,” what would you charge? The fact that the special font would be exclusive to them is sorta obvious, right? And it doesn’t undermine your ability to monetize your original font.
I’ve never had to quote something like this in real life, because Adobe strictly refused to customize fonts for people. I’ll bet there are plenty of people here who have some real-world stories and opinions about it!
I think perhaps the factor I'm wrestling with is that this is a modification to a standard character in the font, which gives the normal function of the font when typed a distinct appearance that the client wants to own and protect. Rather than the addition of a unique glyph (like a logo graphic) to the already existing font as a sort of "extra".
The design labor charge was relatively small because it only factored in the design work and not really anything to do with exclusivity at that time. My concern in part becomes giving exclusive ownership to the modified font for a relatively small base Desktop license price, and the restrictions it puts on me from being allowed to use that exact same new character design in the future for such a small cost.
So if a different client came to me in the future and requested the same "k" (for example) be modified in a similar way, I would have to make sure I adhere to the restrictions and that it be designed different from the modified version I did for this client.
If the license and cost were larger from the start, it would be easier to factor it in and maybe not charge extra. But because it's only a small base license, wouldn't providing this form of exclusivity render additional cost? It's hard to give up some rights for such a small license. (I'm trying to keep the design labor separate.) I'm definitely open to the continued advice and want to do what's fair; just don't have a lot of understanding in this particular scenario.
You might be tempted to completely rename the font for them, so they can own it, but that could also have legal implications. We always rename mods nameoffont_nameofclient and explain that it must have a new name (even if we only change of glyph) because of caching.
Good point about distinguishing between exclusivity and ownership. I might have been a little loose with that wording. So far, my understanding is that they just want to protect the exact version of the modified character and font created for them so that it isn't available to anyone else. They would still be subject to the basic Desktop license terms and user count. So they wouldn't be able to do whatever they wanted with it.
Agreed about renaming the font, I do usually do that in a similar format you described for other mod requests (and will for this one). The license is just so small in comparison to giving up some rights on my end (even if I don't ever use that modified character design again for a different customer), that it's hard to justify not factoring in some additional license cost. And because it's just one character being modified, the design labor part is relatively low cost as well.
And thank you for the feedback so far all, this helps give context and where it may or may not be appropriate to factor in costs. I appreciate it. Still would enjoy continued discussion, but am providing updated numbers now to them.
We did talk on the phone to get more understanding of the request but the furthest it got at that time was that they just want to protect this version (but didn't mention additional reasons why), yet are ok with me creating similar versions in the future.
Another customer commissioned some additional characters and were quite ok to have them reflect back to the retail version.
The challenge I've had is that the request is not that super specific because it's a request to redraw a single common letter glyph that they want to protect from ever being reused for another customer, and the license was small.
I started to write an email yesterday to get more details and try to explain exclusivity some, but then asked if we could do a call to talk through and understand better what they actually did and did not need—or want (didn't get into much of the "why" at that time).
The phone call helped save from some cumbersome emails to get us more quickly on the same page and both parties feel more comfortable, rather than just looking at terms and numbers on a screen.