NBC's alleged illegal font use shows importance of font copyright

There are probably a million free fonts floating around the Internet. Dafont.com offers a bunch, and although I haven’t counted personally, I’m assuming 1001freefonts.com has a pretty big selection. The problem with free fonts, however, is that quality work rarely comes without a price.

Typographers, who, these days, are often just a subset in the bigger realm of graphic design, put a hell of a lot of work into making a font good. They have to make fonts look good at various sizes, and often offer font families with many varieties — anything from a thin version named “ultralight” to the super serious “black condensed.” All that work deserves both recognition and compensation.

So when I read on cityfile.com that NBC was being sued by The Font Bureau Inc., a typographic design firm based in Massachusetts, I was intrigued. I’d never before heard of someone actually being sued for the illegal use of a font.

In the lawsuit, according to the article, Font Bureau argues that NBC had trademarked fonts installed on more machines than they had paid licensing fees for. And to add to the problem? Font Bureau says NBC also used fonts they never had licenses for in the first place.

Not ever having been in the offices of NBC, I can’t tell you if they’re guilty. But they might have a headache on their hands if they are. If they don’t have the rights to the fonts, it’s possible they would have to completely redo some of their fall marketing campaign — expensive.
And it’s not enough at this point for them just to pay for extra licenses, either. Font Bureau, according to Cityfile, is also suing for what I’d like to say is the equivalent of emotional damages.

Each font has its own personality, which is a strong element of a product’s branding. Companies often look for a unique, well-made font to make their materials stand out. The wide distribution of NBC’s campaigns makes the fonts used more recognizable and possibly less appealing to other clients.

While you might think they’re just letters, fonts are important. They affect the way we read and react to messages.

(Side note: NBC’s Saturday Night Live is using Gotham Ultra Black for its title slide, Gotham being the same sans serif font family used at The State News. Don’t worry — we paid for the licensing on all our newsroom computers.)

Don’t believe me? Next time you pick up a newspaper or magazine, imagine all the headlines written in (cringe) Comic Sans. Do you think anyone would take it seriously?

• News
• Campus
• City
• Police Briefs
• Crime Map

• Opinion
• Editorials
• Columns
• Letters

• Features
• Event Calendar

• Sports
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Football
• Golf
• Gymnastics
• Field Hockey
• Ice Hockey
• Rowing
• Soccer
• Softball
• Swimming & Diving
• Track & Field
• Volleyball
• Wrestling

• Blogs
• Classifieds
• Religious Guide
• Puzzles
• Mobile Edition
• Housing Guide

• Multimedia
• Living City
• Video
• Photo Galleries
• Podcasts

• Archives
• Search
• Feeds
• Photo Reprints
• Advertise With Us
• SN Alumni
• Work Here
• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy

• Follow Us:
• Facebook
• Twitter

• 
• More Page Fronts
• Reprints

The State News is published by the students of Michigan State University. State News, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation. Its current 990 tax form is available for review upon request at 435 E. Grand River Avenue during business hours.