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NBC sued over misuse of font license

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Interesting:

In a trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Font Bureau argues that NBC only paid for a single license—which would only permit the company to install the typefaces on a single computer—and only paid to use a limited number of fonts. But NBC went ahead and copied the fonts to a bunch of other computers within the company, Font Bureau claims, and also started using several other fonts for which licenses were never obtained. (In case you’re wondering, the typefaces in question include Bureau Grotesque, Interstate and Antenna.)

The Boston-based company is now asking for “no less than $2 million” in damages, since it argues NBC’s unauthorized use has “caused injury to Font Bureau’s relationships with present and prospective customers,” will make it more difficult for Font Bureau to enter into licensing deals with other companies, and “will cause confusion, mistake and deception as to the source of Font Bureau’s trademarks.” Presumably NBC will seek to settle the suit rather than run the risk of turning up in court to hear that they’ve been barred from using the fonts until the case is settled (and then have to redo all their fall marketing materials).

Read more here. (via Chris Tyrell‘s blog)

  • Ejones

    Ha! More good news for NBC.

    I wonder if the network used an out of house design firm for this. If they did, well, it ain’t their lookout, and they smaller company could pay out a smaller amount of dough.

    If they did rip off these fonts, and it’s proven in court, they won’t get $2M, but they’ll get a nice chunk, and will probably be awarded licensing monies owed them. This will be a good one to watch. I’m making popcorn.

  • Ejones

    Ha! More good news for NBC.

    I wonder if the network used an out of house design firm for this. If they did, well, it ain’t their lookout, and they smaller company could pay out a smaller amount of dough.

    If they did rip off these fonts, and it’s proven in court, they won’t get $2M, but they’ll get a nice chunk, and will probably be awarded licensing monies owed them. This will be a good one to watch. I’m making popcorn.

  • http://tumblr.luclatulippe.com/ Luc Latulippe

    It certainly smells like a “go after one of the big fish to show we ain’t messin’ around” sort of thing. Things are rarely this cut-and-dry, and I’m sure no one at NBC intended anything malicious; I can easily imagine the person buying some fonts not knowing any better, or as you said it could be they outsourced to other studios.

  • http://www.drawn.ca/contributors/luc-latulippe Luc Latulippe

    It certainly smells like a “go after one of the big fish to show we ain’t messin’ around” sort of thing. Things are rarely this cut-and-dry, and I’m sure no one at NBC intended anything malicious; I can easily imagine the person buying some fonts not knowing any better, or as you said it could be they outsourced to other studios.

  • ElleDriver

    Font Bureau is a pretty successful type foundry – they’ve done work for Apple and Microsoft, which I would definitely describe as being “big fish”.

    And according to the lawsuit, NBC is on record for purchasing a single-user license, which points to an on-house design team.

    But I agree with the consensus that this wasn’t done maliciously – I blame in on a careless (or clueless) NBC graphic designer who decided to share/download a bunch of unlicensed fonts. (Sadly for them, I’m sure this person won’t be employed there for much longer.)

  • ElleDriver

    Font Bureau is a pretty successful type foundry – they’ve done work for Apple and Microsoft, which I would definitely describe as being “big fish”.

    And according to the lawsuit, NBC is on record for purchasing a single-user license, which points to an on-house design team.

    But I agree with the consensus that this wasn’t done maliciously – I blame in on a careless (or clueless) NBC graphic designer who decided to share/download a bunch of unlicensed fonts. (Sadly for them, I’m sure this person won’t be employed there for much longer.)