Dingbat Copyright FAQ's

[Flotsom]

In searching the plethora of sites Katie has posted for dingbats & fonts, and recalling many questions posted concerning the use of them in terms of copyright laws, I decided to search for a tutorial(s) on making my own.

In the course of that search I came across this page ...


http://www.web-of-dreams.com/fonts/faqs.html

... which discussed copyright issues regarding the use of dingbats. At the bottom was an email link to the author of that page, and so I emailed her to ask what she used to create/generate her dingbats. Here is her response:

I use Macromedia's Fontographer to*generate my dingbats.* They are first hand drawn from scratch in any good graphic program.* I used*Paint Shop Pro*for most of mine but some were created with Photoshop and then exported into Fontographer. I have tried other programs, some freeware and others very inexpensive but always come*back to Fontographer.* If you want to just give creating your own a try, do a search at download.com or download Fontographer.* I believe you get a free 30 day trial.

*As far as copyright infringement is concerned, did you read my copyright FAQ's?* I haven't updated it in quite a while but the basic laws have not changed.*

*Hope this helped to answer your question.* If you need any other info, please feel free to contact me again and I will do my best to help you.

*Regards,
Sue
WOD Studios
a full design studio for the discriminating client

Btw, Fontographer is Mac compatible.

I might add that she also suggested simply purchasing the dingbats if you're going to do more than use them for your own personal use (ie offer them in logos for sale) might be cheaper and faster than generating your own, and that would satisfy all copyright issues. :)

*

[KD-did]

Informative read, Flot. In 99.9 percent of the reads that go along with some font/ dingbat the only restriction is in selling of the complete font/dingbat set , as in repackaging...as in the use of the font/dingbat inside a program that is sold. not in the use of an element of the font set.


How can you buy something offered for free on the foundries website and is freeware?



I know some dingbats are done by scanning objects too.

[Gravy]

Enough to give a potential logo artist the willy's.

[Flotsom]

Since Sue was so helpful with her info, at the time I asked her if she minded my posting a link to her FAQ's (which naturally she was fine with), I also invited her to come to the forum and look around. In her second email to me she offered this:


As far as being concerned regarding the use of fonts/dingbats for commercial use; speaking for myself, if a dingbat is purchased from me it is licensed to the purchaser and may be used in creating graphics for sale without worrying about copyright infringement.* Most dingbat/font foundries have the same terms of use.* Unless you really want to get involved in creating your own, it is much less expensive, not to mention time consuming, to purchase the font/dingbat you are interested in.* This will automatically give you the license to use it for commercial purposes such as your logos.* Hope I didn't totally confuse you:-)* And, as I already said, most other sites have the same terms of use.

*I am definitely going to make a trip to your forum and browse around.* Thank you for the invite.* Also, I would be more then happy*for the link to my FAQ's.* It is slightly out-of-date, but laws haven't changed...just some links.

Let me know if you need any more info!

Regards,
Sue*

I'm not sure if that exactly answers your question, but my suggestion would be to read the printed text that always seems to come in every download I've done so far. There has always been a notation as to the author of the dingbats. I suppose to use one, commercially, you'd have to purchase the set. Not sure. Perhaps another question for Sue. :)

Maybe she'll buy TLC and join the forum!:D

[KD-did]

You will notice that she didn't address the freeware/shareware issue.

[Gravy]

Holy cow I just did a search on font programs there is one called Asia font studio that costs 2000 bucks!

What kind of justification would that take. "Honey I've really got to have this, look it even washes windows."

[Shelly]

Didnt you read the small print the Designer comes with it lol.

J/k

[KD-did]

Stick with FREEWARE or Shareware..it fits the pocketbook better.

Here is another funny issue ...some clipart is just color filled dingbats or B/W versions that can be colored..

At $349 I don't see Fontographer being widely used by the masses..

:getting n

Here are some less expensive alternatives for making your own fonts/dingbats

ont Creator

PC/Shareware $65
Author : High Logic

Font Creator is a powerful application that puts font creation within the grasp of the average PC user, typographers and graphic designers.
The editor lets you easily select and modify the entire character set of any TrueType font and fonts based on OpenType font technology.
Features include the ability to convert (scanned) images to outlines, thus enabling you to create fonts with your own signature, logo and handwriting.
The intuitive interface makes Font Creator the perfect tool for both new and experienced users. The advanced validation features make the design process easy and help you avoid common mistakes.
TypeTool

PC and Mac $99
Author : FontLab Ltd.

TypeTool is a light font editor for small font manipulation jobs.
It can import and export TrueType, Type 1, and OpenType (TT-based) fonts. It has extensive glyph drawing and editing tools and manual and automatic kerning capabilities. Auto-hinting is also included. TypeTool supports virtually all font encodings and code pages and can import/export fonts with up to 65,000 characters.

[Flotsom]

WOW!!!