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Commentary September 15, 2003 Berthold Types Limited / The Hunts |
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¶ Harvey Hunt used to run TypeUSA, a FontShop outlet in Chicago (47 W Polk St, #100-310, Chicago, IL 60605). He bought the rights to the Berthold library for almost nothing a few years ago. Located here and now called Berthold Types Limited. Present coordinates: 47 W. Polk St. #100-340 Chicago, Illinois 60605 (T) +1 312-913-9044 (F) +1 312-913-9049 (E) press@bertholdtypes.com ||| H. Berthold Systeme AG Berlinerstr. 27 13507 Berlin, Germany 011 49 (30) 4399 3032 011 49 (30) 4399 3030 FAX. ¶ The Berthold collection is superb. Read on to learn what the Hunts are doing to this jewel of a collection. Enter Melissa M. Hunt, Vice President & General Counsel Berthold Types Limited, telephone +1 312-913-9044 fax +1 312-913-9049, Harvey's wife. Around the beginning of 2000, Harvey and Melissa Hunt, the "Hunts", came out swinging. First, they rehired Gerhard Lange as artistic consultant. That was the good news. |
The bad news |
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Now the bad news, taken mainly from
their
web page:
All information, feedback, data, questions, comments or suggestions
regarding the content of this publication or other publication of H.
Berthold and made by you or any viewer of this publication will not be
considered confidential. You agree that H. Berthold will have all rights to
reproduce, disclose, distribute and otherwise use any such response for any
purpose whatsoever including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing
and marketing products based upon any such responses.
¶
This means that Berthold owns any idea
you email them.
In their rather bizarre licensing
agreement they had some other unusual
statements and claims that are incredibly restrictive:
¶
Interestingly, some time before May 2001, they improved
their licensing agreement. PDF embedding is allowed.
Also, you can now send the font along with a job to a printer.
In other words, the licensing is not a major issue
any further. Bravo, Berthold.
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The withdawal period |
¶ Early in their existence, Berthold started withdrawing the Berthold fonts from type distribution sites, starting with Adobe. They also stopped licensing Berthold fonts, even the ones made by Adobe, to Agfa Monotype. Apostrophe's comments on this: This will probably hurt them in the long run. Sad story really. The reason was given as "breach of contract, trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices". Well, I am not so sure now. If somehow they are able to establish a reputation for quality and resist the temptation to add grungy fuzzy stuff to of their collection, they may well end up winning. It will be an interesting race. In any case, the Berthold collection is now exclusively at the Berthold site. |
The litigation period |
¶
Soon afterwards, The Hunts started sending (frivolous) legal letters usually
related to alleged trademark violations. A partial list of the "victims":
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Afterthoughts |
¶ From Apostrophe's comments on alt.binaries.fonts: "An example of the Hunts' attitude towards their customer base is in the so-called 'new' release of the Standard set. To call this a 'new' release and to issue it and charge prior customers money for it is insulting at best - and a scam and a knockoff of their own library. Standard was the name Berthold used for Akzidenz Grotesk when it was marketed as metal type in English speaking countries. There were no other differences. In this case, they have added a Euro symbol and changed the name, so that users will hopefully be lulled into laying out $249 US for what amounts to a added glyph that every other major foundry offers at no charge. To me this is an indicator of how low the new Berthold will stoop for a dollar." ¶ The Hunts explain the situation here, but have nearly all type designers against them. Two arguments stand out. First, Hrant Papazian asks Hunt, after he claims that only 12 lawsuits were filed: "May we please know how many "cease and desist" and other what might be informally called "pre-lawsuit" letters you have sent out? I think this is significant because -as anybody knows- a confrontational letter (especially when directed to individuals with modest or non-existent legal resources) can have nearly the same effect as a lawsuit." And equally poignant is the reply of B. Gibbs; "Many foundries and retailers were represented at TypeCon; I don't recall any Berthold presence, other than careful mentions in hushed conversations. Come to think of it, I rarely hear of anything other than legal action and scare tactics. Surely you must understand that while these actions intend to protect your assets from infringement, the perceptions of the end customer suffer. How would you respond to this? As one of the established names/brands in the industry, what is Berthold doing to preserve the craft and build the community?" ¶ Some people say that the Hunts lie to establish a reputation. For example, on Typophile, an anonymous poster wrote: "In the letter [to Zangofonts, claiming trademark violation] Melissa M. Hunt uses the term "Berthold Types Limited ("Berthold Types") is the successor to the H. Berthold type foundry and ..." This is not true! Berthold Types GmbH was bankrupted without any legal successor. The Hunts bought the trademarks and some of the digital outlines and photo type data before this happened. So all the rights are based on trademarks only. Berthold is dead." This poster refers to a German page which says: "HRB 31501 Berthold Types GmbH (Teltowkanalstr. 1 - 4, 12247 Berlin). Die Gesellschaft ist infolge rechtskräftiger Abweisung eines Antrages auf Eröffnung des Konkursverfahrens mangels Masse auf Grund des 1 des Gesetzes vom 9. Oktober 1934 aufgelöst. Von Amts wegen eingetragen." ¶ Considering the damage caused by them, it is difficult to believe that Harvey and Melissa Hunt were (are still?) members of ATypI. |
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Copyright © 2003
Luc Devroye |