Is it not possible to include with a font, alongside the OFL, a 'pre-emptive permission' text that gives the user the go-ahead to use the RFN named in OFL text when a font has been modified by subsetting, re-hinting, etc, (i would have to think of the full list) ?? Seems a sensible solution to me.
-vernon On 24 May 2013, at 16:34, Victor Gaultney <v...@gaultney.org> wrote: > On 24 May 2013, at 20:26, Thomas Phinney <tphin...@cal.berkeley.edu> wrote: > >> I had assumed that including the RFN as part of the new name would be >> inappropriate. I suppose it could depend on whether the RFN was a trademark >> or not. The OFL is rather silent in this area. > > It's up to the copyright holder. Some would *love* to have the RFNs used in > derivative names by those they trust, and could even require that in their > permission agreement. Others want the opposite. The OFL does not speak to > this other than to say "if you modify this font, and the author has declared > an RFN, talk to them and work out together what is best for this specific > situation". > > Personally I love the idea of web fonts services (or frankly any service or > individual that modifies fonts to improve them) appending a recognisable > suffix to the name. This will still require separate permission if RFNs are > declared, but would go a long way to avoiding the confusion and frustration > that Adam has so colourfully described. It would also show a value-added > quality to the font. For example, say Paratype were to take our Gentium Plus > font and hint the Roman and Cyrillic to look awesome on Android. With our > permission they could call it 'Gentium Plus PT' and people would flock to > them to get their improved derivative (hey - we'd even use it!). The world > would also then think - hmmmm maybe we could hire them to do the same wonders > for ours, or to begin to trust 'PT' derivatives over others. > > Have a great weekend, > > V > > -- > -- > Google Font Directory Discussions > http://groups.google.com/group/googlefontdirectory-discuss > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Google Font Directory Discussions" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to googlefontdirectory-discuss+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > >
