Luc Devroye (copyright)
School of Computer Science
McGill University
Montreal, Canada H3A 2K6
luc@cs.mcgill.ca
http://luc.devroye.org
http://luc.devroye.org/fonts.html
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Luc Devroye (copyright) |
Melbourne's Graham Meade used to run GemFonts. A prolofic Australian font designer, he has made well over one hundred freeware and shareware fonts. At one point in 1999, he created Buffied, with characters that look very much like those of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" television series owned by FOX. He designed the font from scratch.
Here is the first letter sent regarding Buffied by FOX:
Dennis L. Wilson
Keats McFarland & Wilson LLP
9720 Wilshire Blvd., Penthouse Suite
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 248-3830
Fax: (310) 860-0363
January 27, 2000
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Jordan and Jami
fontframe@usa.net
JR9er@aol.com
Re: UNAUTHORIZED USE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX PROPERTIES
Gemfonts (http://members.tripod.com/grimbo2/gemfont.htm)
(http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/windows/3/main-fontac.htm)
Dear Jordan and Jami:
We are writing to you on behalf of our client, Twentieth Century Fox Film
Corporation (hereinafter "Fox"). Fox is the exclusive owner of all
copyrights, trademark and other intellectual property rights in and to the
famous "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" television series (hereinafter the "Buffy
Copyrights and Trademarks"). No one is authorized to reproduce, transmit,
copy or otherwise utilize the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Copyrights and
Trademarks without the express written permission of Fox.
Fox has dedicated tremendous time and resources to the creation of quality
entertainment programming such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and greatly
values the comments and suggestions of fans who enjoy Fox's programs.
However, the development and distribution of Fox's programs requires a
collaboration with many different entities, including guild organizations
representing actors, directors and writers, as well as local, national and
international television stations and cable and satellite programming
services. Based in part on these relationships, Fox has a legal
responsibility, including many contractual obligations, to prevent the
unauthorized distribution of its proprietary material.
We recently discovered that your web site
(http://members.tripod.com/grimbo2/gemfont.htm and
http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/windows/3/main-fontac.htm) contains
unauthorized derivative works of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Copyrights
and
Trademarks in the form of a font called "Buffied," which is based on the
stylized wordmark of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Fox tries to support its fans whenever possible. However, after reviewing
your web site, we must request that you remove the "Buffied" font from your
web site as soon as possible. You are hereby put on notice that the
unauthorized use of Fox's proprietary material, as well as the
reproduction,
sale and/or distribution by you of such unauthorized and/or derivative
materials (including providing such items for free on the Internet)
constitutes copyright infringement and trademark infringement, and
potentially subjects you to both civil and criminal liability.
While we expect that you will want to accede to our requests, please
understand that if you do not remove this infringing material without
delay,
we will be forced to recommend to Fox that it take appropriate legal action
against you to have them removed. Thank you for your cooperation in this
regard.
Your interest in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is most appreciated. Fox will
continue to do its best to bring you quality entertainment.
Nothing contained in this letter constitutes an express or implied waiver
of
any rights, remedies or defenses of Fox, all of which are expressly
reserved.
Very truly yours,
/s/
Dennis L. Wilson
Keats McFarland & Wilson LLP
DLW:hra
cc: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Well, Buffy versus Buffied: is that really a trademark violation? Let's see: how about Emigre's Solex (Solex is a European motorbike), Jonathan Barnbrook's Exocet (of Falkland War fame)? I think this will not stand up in court.
The second accusation is that of copyright infringement. This will not survive either, because the shapes of characters cannot be protected by copyright in the United States. Graham took 4 glyphs from the word Buffy, and added tens more to make a font. This was done, so he says, in a mechanical manner. This is all according to the book, and in fact, most truly new fonts are made in this way, starting from scans or pencil drawings. Scriptorium (David Nalle) makes all its fonts this way, I believe.
So, the Buffy buffoons put pressure on Meade's web site providers, and in June 2000, Graham's web site was pulled. I do not know what will happen from here on, so stay tuned.