Emigre versus Hrant Papazian

Commentary
September 2, 2002

Emigre versus Hrant Papazian

.....

¶ Emigre's greed has no limits. I have documented many instances in which Emigre, through its enforcer, Tim Starback, has been trying to extract money from various people for several alleged "crimes", but the story that is surfacing in two type blogs/mail groups is truly amazing, and I wonder why so few people are outraged by this. Los Angeles-based typophile and type critic Hrant Papazian told John Downer, the designer of Brothers, an Emigre typeface, that he was using Brothers Bold on his web pages. John Downer contacted Emigre, which, after checking its files, noticed that Hrant had not paid for the font.
¶ According to co-owner Rudy Vander Lans in Typographica: Many, many years ago Mr. Papazian submitted a font to Emigre, which did not appeal to us. Mr. Papazian, however, wanted to know exactly why we didn't like his font. Unaware, at the time, of Mr. Papazian's insatiable need for arguing, we quickly became involved in an odd correspondence that included everything from the Bill of Rights to Plato and ended with him mentioning something about carrying an AK 47. Then, a few years ago, one of our typeface designers pointed out that Mr. Papazian was using one of Emigre's fonts, which we found out he did not pay for. We sent him a bill, which caused another lengthy argument, so we sent it in for collection.
¶ On the same forum, Hrant Papazian replied: I paid for the font about 3 months after *I myself* approached Downer about my transgression. After Starback emailed me to say all was well, the collection agency was tricked into reopening the case! But they promptly told Starback to get lost. But then a lawfirm was recruited to try their luck! None of it worked. And then do you know what Emigre did during TypeCon 2001?! Ask Starback. I have a written confession, so don't tempt me to *really* invest some time putting you straight.
¶ The AK47 insinuation by Vander Lans seems to suggest that Papazian threatened him. But on the Typophile forum, after many verbal attacks by others, Papazian explains: I grew up in a civil war, with car bombs, snipers, no running water, the works. At 17 I was guarding my high school with a "klashin" (AK-47). This little conflict -which is destroying your lives- is essentially just entertainment for me.

Type design list

¶ From the type design list: Prelude. Getting warmed up. John Downer accuses Hrant. Hrant replies. Hrant's long reply. Hrant is rightly upset at the fundamentalist approach to enforcement preached by Downer. I quote from the last link: He's grasping onto his "principles", his righteous, overzealous and intolerant principles. [...] Equating me with a common thief is immature and dogmatic. Whether it's a Taliban in Harat, or a Puritan in Iowa City, fundamentalism is ruinous: it causes much of the misery in this world, and it disgusts me. John sees his paintbrush and his ten commandments as sufficient for living. I look upon that with pity. John's behavior on-list and off gives clear indication of his miserable primadonna attitude. *He* causes the problems. *He* is the parasite: almost never contributing anything of value to the list, always barking, biting and pissing on people. I fight such cretins with all my wits.

So what?

¶ I find it incredible that a foundry is sending a collection agency after a user of its fonts, without first trying diplomacy, discussion, cooperation and good will. If this had been an isolated incident, I would not have bothered wetting this web page, but Emigre has had a history of sending lawyers' letters before attempting an amicable settlement. The anger it generated in Papazian and many others is due, I am sure, to their shoot-to-kill approach.
¶ It is easy to like the underdog (Papazian, in case you are wondering). But what makes the underdog in this case so attractive is that he exposes the situation in a more transparent way than the other party. Papazian's opponents, Emigre, John Downer and various anonymous posters, do not offer a limpid case. I would love to see them publish copies of email, court orders, collection agency reports, and the like, to document the case. The AK47 accusation is innuendo. And I would love to see the names of the anonymous posters. In general, the party that offers the most transparency is the one that is right, and this case is not any different.

Copyright © 2002 Luc Devroye
School of Computer Science
McGill University
Montreal, Canada H3A 2K6
luc@cs.mcgill.ca
http://luc.devroye.org/index.html

	Commentary September 2, 2002 Emigre versus Hrant Papazian
.....	¶ Emigre's greed has no limits. I have documented many instances in which Emigre, through its enforcer, Tim Starback, has been trying to extract money from various people for several alleged "crimes", but the story that is surfacing in two type blogs/mail groups is truly amazing, and I wonder why so few people are outraged by this. Los Angeles-based typophile and type critic Hrant Papazian told John Downer, the designer of Brothers, an Emigre typeface, that he was using Brothers Bold on his web pages. John Downer contacted Emigre, which, after checking its files, noticed that Hrant had not paid for the font. ¶ According to co-owner Rudy Vander Lans in Typographica: Many, many years ago Mr. Papazian submitted a font to Emigre, which did not appeal to us. Mr. Papazian, however, wanted to know exactly why we didn't like his font. Unaware, at the time, of Mr. Papazian's insatiable need for arguing, we quickly became involved in an odd correspondence that included everything from the Bill of Rights to Plato and ended with him mentioning something about carrying an AK 47. Then, a few years ago, one of our typeface designers pointed out that Mr. Papazian was using one of Emigre's fonts, which we found out he did not pay for. We sent him a bill, which caused another lengthy argument, so we sent it in for collection. ¶ On the same forum, Hrant Papazian replied: I paid for the font about 3 months after I myself approached Downer about my transgression. After Starback emailed me to say all was well, the collection agency was tricked into reopening the case! But they promptly told Starback to get lost. But then a lawfirm was recruited to try their luck! None of it worked. And then do you know what Emigre did during TypeCon 2001?! Ask Starback. I have a written confession, so don't tempt me to really invest some time putting you straight. ¶ The AK47 insinuation by Vander Lans seems to suggest that Papazian threatened him. But on the Typophile forum, after many verbal attacks by others, Papazian explains: I grew up in a civil war, with car bombs, snipers, no running water, the works. At 17 I was guarding my high school with a "klashin" (AK-47). This little conflict -which is destroying your lives- is essentially just entertainment for me.
Type design list	¶ From the type design list: Prelude. Getting warmed up. John Downer accuses Hrant. Hrant replies. Hrant's long reply. Hrant is rightly upset at the fundamentalist approach to enforcement preached by Downer. I quote from the last link: He's grasping onto his "principles", his righteous, overzealous and intolerant principles. [...] Equating me with a common thief is immature and dogmatic. Whether it's a Taliban in Harat, or a Puritan in Iowa City, fundamentalism is ruinous: it causes much of the misery in this world, and it disgusts me. John sees his paintbrush and his ten commandments as sufficient for living. I look upon that with pity. John's behavior on-list and off gives clear indication of his miserable primadonna attitude. He causes the problems. He is the parasite: almost never contributing anything of value to the list, always barking, biting and pissing on people. I fight such cretins with all my wits.
So what?	¶ I find it incredible that a foundry is sending a collection agency after a user of its fonts, without first trying diplomacy, discussion, cooperation and good will. If this had been an isolated incident, I would not have bothered wetting this web page, but Emigre has had a history of sending lawyers' letters before attempting an amicable settlement. The anger it generated in Papazian and many others is due, I am sure, to their shoot-to-kill approach. ¶ It is easy to like the underdog (Papazian, in case you are wondering). But what makes the underdog in this case so attractive is that he exposes the situation in a more transparent way than the other party. Papazian's opponents, Emigre, John Downer and various anonymous posters, do not offer a limpid case. I would love to see them publish copies of email, court orders, collection agency reports, and the like, to document the case. The AK47 accusation is innuendo. And I would love to see the names of the anonymous posters. In general, the party that offers the most transparency is the one that is right, and this case is not any different.
	Copyright © 2002 Luc Devroye School of Computer Science McGill University Montreal, Canada H3A 2K6 luc@cs.mcgill.ca http://luc.devroye.org/index.html