iStock Now Accepting Illustrations with Text

I wish I knew how to interpret Apple's system font license. Thats all the info I can find and I think it is mostly referring to PDF docs where the font could be embedded in the file. I think we should be OK  because we convert the font to outlines but you couldn't upload the whole typeface. Going forward I plan to use only free for commercial use fonts just to be sure its OK.


You could get info on each font and then write to the foundry or write to Apple.I wrote to Apple's legal department yesterday but I doubt they will answer me. If they do I will post the answer. 

That's kind of my understanding. And from discussions that have cropped up in other forums discussing this topic (text and fonts are new here but have been discussed in relation to other stock sites selling vectors for a while now) there really doesn't seem to be a general consensus on what the license terms say we can or can't do.

The way I view this, there is no such thing as a font that can't be used in stock. We're not distributing or selling the font itself, in any usable form. And that's what EULAs protect. It's sort of like logo designs. A final logo design for a client can be copyrighted, trademarked, etc., because the company that owns the logo is registering and protecting the image, not the font file used to create the image. If there were fonts out there that couldn't be used in stock, I'd think that for the same reasons those fonts could never be used in logos or any commercial design work.

Now that's just my interpretation of this, and I could be wrong. But I struggle to see how a font in outlined form (not editable) can be protected from commercial use even in stock images, when the real intellectual property of a font is the font file and it's raw, editable form and code.

I did some test illos using ARIAL font, wich is part of MS-WINDOWS, but reading about license, i realize that ARIAL is not a free for us here, like below.


"Arial is a proprietary typeface to which Monotype Imaging owns all rights, including copyright, design and trademark rights. Its licensing terms prohibit derivative works and free redistribution"


So, i did some research and i found the "Free UCS Outline Fonts"


"The fonts are licensed under the GNU GPLv3 with a font exception, which ensures that they are freely distributed, and so that copies of the fonts may be embedded in a document that uses the font without the document itself being covered by the GPL."


I love to know if these fonts are ok to use. I'm a complete idiot about legal issues, so maybe someone can help us to understand if it's ok or not.



 

Asking for legal advice in a forum likely isn't your best option - If you're unsure, I'd suggest you contact a lawyer who specializes in copyright law, or try to get in touch with the font's creator for permission.

Edited to add: The issue of fonts was discussed at length in this thread from the old Logo forums. The focus of the discussion regards the use of fonts in a logo, but much of the information is still relevant to illustration.

(Edited on 2012-08-27 11:50:00 by bortonia)

Ok, i did my first try few minutes ago. I have an illo on inspection queue with a release. Inside release i put name of font and link to license. It's a free font to all uses, include sell, modification, etc. Also in release i put some relevant license highlights to make it easier for the inspector. Is it a correct procedure?

I don't think you have to do anything of that. If i'm not mistaken it's your responsibility to make sure you have the right to use the font, so iStock doesn't really care. You're the one getting sued. :P

Now when fonts are allowed in vectors, how about adding a few keywords for fonts to make it easier for designers to find what they're looking for? Like serif, sans-serif, bold, italic, typewriter, handwritten, etc.

If you're going to inspect and reject fonts surely you know of a list or source where we can find fonts bases to work from? Most of what I'll do will be hand tooled to avoid any of this but It would be nice to know of where to start looking. Since you folks implemented the program you must know something right?

Again, as we don't own the copyright to anyone's fonts, we cannot provide a list. We are trusting contributors to do their own homework here. If you're worried about fonts then the best thing you can do is create your own or avoid using any in your submissions.

I've noticed that my files with text are often set to 20 credits, while non-exclusive similar images are set to 12. How are you supposed to compete with that? Have the reviewers been ordered to set exclusive files as high as possible and non-exclusive as low as possible?


I just had a set of nine labels accepted, and it that was set to 20 credits... it's absurd! It would almost be an 8 credit file without the text.


Adding text isn't really hard work. If you ask me the text should simply be ignored when setting the price. 


It feels like I'm getting punished for being exclusive. I also feel like an annoying parrot when I have to send one support ticket for each file to try and get the price lowered to 15 credits.

Has wagnerm25 mentionned, is it better to include a release with the name of the font and copyright or will inspectors just ignore them?

Oops, my alphabeth was rejected 'lacking visual impact'.... Do you agree?

@ingridjostura, maybe you could try to divide it in half and upload it as two different illustrations so that the preview would be bigger and clearer. But it's just a thought so take it for what it is

/
/PaCondryx, I have thought of that, even deviding it up into 3 files (as I see other contributers do) and adding 'empty' flags (see this link). But hoped that putting all the letters in 1 file would make it less expensive for buyers to make a name...


Would love to hear if that is better practice, or that my alphabeth is just plain too simple.





Oops no link, trying this:

(Edited on 2012-09-26 03:58:04 by ingridjoustra)