Blatant rip-off: a story

Options
Jasper de Waard
Jasper de Waard Posts: 648
in Type Business
Hi people!

I saw a van with a logo that looked like it used my Proza Display. I like it when my typefaces are used. I was happy.

I checked their website and saw that my typeface had been butchered. I emailed the company to ask who designed this. Not so happy.

Designer got back to me. Told me I was mistaken. Told me I could not even recognize my own typeface. He had used an entirely different font called Xillian. Uhoh...

I compared the outlines of Xillian and Proza Display Bold. Some letters perfectly overlapped, some with a few tweaks, and some quite different (e.g. M and N, the most ugly ones). Overall: clear rip-off.

I googled Xillian. Turns out this dude is actually pretending that he made a typeface. And he's even selling the 'full version' (whatever that means) for $50.

It's so ugly. So badly done. So pathetic.

What to do, what to do...

Xillian: https://www.behance.net/gallery/135423081/Xillian-Font-Free-Download
Proza Display: https://bureauroffa.com/about-prozadisplay

Comments

  • Jasper de Waard
    Jasper de Waard Posts: 648
    Some examples with Xillian in the background and Proza Display Bold on the foreground. My guess is that the small differences in curvature or node placement are mostly due to rounding and scaling up/down. 
  • Adam Ladd
    Adam Ladd Posts: 276
    edited July 31
    And he's even selling the 'full version' (whatever that means) for $50.
    FYI: Couldn't find your Behance comment to counter this (latest at top is from 2024)... does the profile owner have the ability to delete?

    Regarding above... some of the comments state:

    "Beautiful font! Any update on when we can expect puncution? I'm using this for a brand but feeling limited! Thanks for all your work!"

    "Really nice font, thank you for sharing! Is there an available license with german letters (ä ö ü ß...)?"

    Perhaps this suggests some of what's been stripped away compared to their for-sale 'full version' of it? 
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,463
    Perhaps this suggests some of what's been stripped away compared to their for-sale 'full version' of it? 
    I wonder if it was ripped from a subset webfont.
  • Igor Petrovic
    Igor Petrovic Posts: 326
    Have you tried reporting the Behance project?
  • Jasper de Waard
    Jasper de Waard Posts: 648
    edited July 31
    Adam Ladd said:
    And he's even selling the 'full version' (whatever that means) for $50.
    FYI: Couldn't find your Behance comment to counter this (latest at top is from 2024)... does the profile owner have the ability to delete?
    Oh wow, you're right. And @Igor Freiberger's comment was also deleted. Let's see how long @Igor Petrovic's comment survives... Anyway, thanks for the support Igors!

     Igor Petrovic said:
    Have you tried reporting the Behance project?
    I'm super busy at the moment, but when I have the time I'll probably compile some convincing images and report to Behance. Does anyone have experience with that?

    To be honest, I feel like there is very little to gain for me here. There's a failed designer somewhere who stole my work and did some terrible edits, got a few likes and maybe a few dollars. Maybe if I could ridicule him in a creative way that would bring me some satisfaction. Any ideas?

  • Daniel Calders
    Daniel Calders Posts: 19
    edited July 31
    You could also leave a comment on his LinkedIn post where he claims the font was "Carved by" him. I don't think he can delete your comment there.
  • michele casanova
    michele casanova Posts: 55
    Jasper de Waard said:
    Maybe if I could ridicule him in a creative way that would bring me some satisfaction. Any ideas?

    Perhaps a trivial idea: create a short animated gif with the title "Spot the Differences" and compare sentences like "CTRL+C, CTRL+V", "New name. Same DNA.", "Fonts have feelings too".

  • Christian Thalmann
    Christian Thalmann Posts: 2,029
    For the record, here is where you would report the copyright violation. There's a form for it.
  • Igor Freiberger
    Igor Freiberger Posts: 294
    The best hardware to create fonts:

Categories