Oct 08 2009
NBC Sued Over Font Licensing
The Font Bureau, Inc. has filed a $2 million lawsuit against NBC over unlicensed installations of fonts, including Bureau Grotesque and Interstate.
Apparently, NBC used purchased fonts on many more computers than the original license allowed, and also used fonts which had not been purchased.
Guess we can look forward to a lot of creative uses of Times New Roman in upcoming NBC advertising.
PS: when’s the last time you read the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) for the fonts you own? (And I do mean own. You do, don’t you?)
I just read a very impressive font-related excerpt from your recent book on Print Production over at Graphics.com and was most amused to see your comments here as well. So few people seem to grasp how fonts work, their licensing and all the other little details that can complicate and enrich using them and you have done a great job of summarizing (and further elaborating on) some of the greater concerns involved. I was also very amused by your piece about Helvetica and the pronunciation of, ‘neue’ and ‘porsche’; I have had no end of people tripping over the word when asking me about Helvetica and related issues, from now on I think I will point them to your website!
Karl,
I’m so glad you like the excerpt from “Real World Print Production.” The book was a labor of love (as is this site, despite how infrequently I post). Thank you for your comment!