Text Logos: Font Copyright?

[dezinerite]

A while back I wanted to use a free font that I downloaded and found out that it came with a license and limitation of use, incl. copyright information.

Now a friend of mine wants me to come up with a simple text logo for his new company and I don't know if I'll be able to use one of those GPL fonts.

If he uses a free font under GPL, will he be able to trademark the logo? Or will I have to create a font from scratch if it's a logo he wants to trademark?

Thanks.

 

[gaucho1976]

A while back I wanted to use a free font that I downloaded and found out that it came with a license and limitation of use, incl. copyright information.

Now a friend of mine wants me to come up with a simple text logo for his new company and I don't know if I'll be able to use one of those GPL fonts.

If he uses a free font under GPL, will he be able to trademark the logo? Or will I have to create a font from scratch if it's a logo he wants to trademark?

Thanks.

you have 3 options:
a) buy a font if it's not shareware
b) give a link to the font author site if required (or buy it if they have that option)
c) use the font you want, convert it to shapes (either in photoshop or illustrator) and then apply some changes to it in a way that it's converted to a different font.

Most fonts that are given for free have no problem with its use as long as they're not used commecially. Be sure to check which case applies, but to be covered, I'd recommend you to buy a font, they're usually between 30 and 50 dollars. After all, if your friend can't afford that for a business, then he shouldn't even start a business, so I'm quite positive he will have no problem on spending a few bucks, less than a saturday night's beer round :imho:

 

[dezinerite]

Hmm...I think go with option 3. I would tell him to buy a font but I don't think he's willing to spend for it, esp. because his company name is really short.