TBS and Titleboy Films sued for font license infringement for Falling Skies promotional materials
February 27th, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
1
1
0
1
0
This January, TBS and Titleboy Films were sued by type foundry +ISM for the alleged misuse of the font Anthropolymorphics.
The font was used in the promotional materials for the Falling Skies television show. +ISM alleges that it has no record of a font purchase, and still that it’s standard license doesn’t cover promotional use.
While the original creative work was developed by Titleboy Films (dba Prologue), the lawsuit includes mention of both Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Turner Network Television. +ISM is seeking the destruction of all offending materials.
Creative work always requires the appropriate font licenses purchase, and tracking those licenses is imperative. Font licensing issues can expand beyond the responsibility of the creator, and cast a shadow on all parties involved.
If you want to have your creative work noticed, you must maintain license compliance. Keep yourself safe from lawsuits, track the font in your collection using a font manager like Universal Type Server.
A brief overview of the lawsuit is available here, read the full text lawsuit here.
OK, what about all those free fonts? Years of collecting fonts, more than 10,000 fonts by now – paying for those that required payment but not for those that were offered free. What happens if any of those free font makers change their licensing – how are you supposed to know? And what about not being able to copyright fonts?
That’s a great collection. Understanding font licensing font licensing can be a challenge. It’s best to read the license when you obtain the font. Not all open source/free fonts have the same license. Some allow commercial use, others don’t. Unless specifically noted in the original license that you got with the font, newer licenses shouldn’t supersede the license that you downloaded the font with. Granted, if you have questions, it’s best to contact the foundry, or your legal representative.