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Nokia’s legendary font makes for a great user interface font

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317 points rguiscard | 2 comments | 30 Aug 25 12:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.42s | source
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jarym ◴[30 Aug 25 13:02 UTC] No.45074279[source]▶
Anyone know what the license situation would be around using this font e.g. on a commercial website?
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wizzwizz4 ◴[30 Aug 25 13:21 UTC] No.45074434[source]▶
Typefaces do not have copyright (though they can have design rights or trademark encumberment). Font files, the computer programs that implement typefaces, are protected by copyright and must be licensed.
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1. NoMoreNicksLeft ◴[31 Aug 25 03:07 UTC] No.45080022[source]▶
What if I write a tool that pulls all the vectors out of a font file, puts them in a new font file with a new font id/name, munges it up so they don't have the same hash?

Shapes aren't software, and whatever fool judicial ruling set that precedent is ripe for some loopholing.

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2. wizzwizz4 ◴[31 Aug 25 11:51 UTC] No.45082463[source]▶
Then your font will look awful, because there's a lot more to fonts than just the glyphs. (See the lettering on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pope_Francis_Tomb.jp..., in the lower third of the image.) You cannot adapt the font's kerning or hinting software in this way, since that would be creating a derivative work: you'd have to take measurements from its output and reconstruct it that way, which is rather difficult to do without understanding.

The ruling is not foolish: it's actually one of the more sensible aspects of copyright law imo.