I've noticed foundries like Büro Destruct, Cape Arcona and dozens more are putting there initials before the font name (BD Aubergin, BD Roylac, CA Aircona, CA Spy Royal), is that to avoid trademarking every font name? According to MyFonts Büro Destruct does have some of there names trademarked, but not all and Cape Arcona doesn't have any. If it's not to avoid trademarking why do it?
I also remember ITC, Monotype and Letraset putting there initials at the end of font names, is that for the same reason?
Does it annoy the users that the fonts alphabetize under the foundry name rather than the font name?
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I don’t feel comfortable giving any other real advice on this—that is what a lawyer is for. But *I* sure wouldn’t name my font the same as a trademarked font name, plus a space and a couple of initials after it.
I would never release a font with a name that was already in use whether it is trademarked or not. But twice I have found a font being sold with the same name as one I had sold for years. Luckily, for me, both the foundries were no longer around when I found them so I didn't have to deal with the issue. I was just wondering if the initials would help any possible future conflicts if someone trademarked a name that I had already been using.
I know that any advice I get on this forum isn't real legal advice, I just appreciate the opinions and advice from people with way more experience and knowledge then me, which both you and Mark have.
(Of course, with a name like “Phinney Garamond” I would expect to be safe because there have been countless fonts with Garamond in the name, from different foundries, all using the 16th-century “Garamond” typefounders’ name which is not in and of itself subject to trademark, at least not for a font. I could trademark “Phinney Garamond” as a combined name, but nobody can trademark Garamond by itself, when used for a font. You could presumably get a trademark for a perfume or a car or something named “Garamond,” though.)
Still, take it for what it is worth: a REALLY I AM NOT A LAWYER person commenting about what they THINK they know about legal stuff. But it is certainly worth at least what you paid for it....
I'm perfectly happy when Adobe apps choose to alphabetize 'Adobe Garamond' as 'Garamond'. But It's confusing when Adobe apps alphabetize it under 'G' where other apps alphabetize it under 'A'. And this gets even worse for ITC fonts where, depending on where you obtained the font, a font might be named ITC XXX or XXX ITC, so in some cases Adobe and non-Adobe apps will behave the same way where in other cases they will not.
However, I don't think there's any way to consistently deal with how to best alphabetize things. There are certain fonts where I view the foundry identifier as part of the font name and others where I view it purely as a modifier. For example, while I don't object to finding 'Adobe Garamond' alphabetised as 'Garamond', I find it weird that 'Adobe Text' is alphabetized as 'Text', text being such a generic term that I think of 'Adobe Text' as the name of the font rather than as a foundry name modifying a font name.
PH Archer
PH Proxima Nova
PH Gotham
I'm being sarcastic btw.
At least in our case, it has nothing to do with vanity or trademarks.