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Subject:The Microsoft logo From:William=E -dot- =Newkirk%Pubs%GenAv -dot- Mlb -at- RODES -dot- CCA -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM Date:Thu, 6 Jun 1996 09:10:42 EDT
>FYI: I wanted to use this is our documentation and I was told by
>Microsoft's legal department that it's copyright infringement and that I
>can't. I argued, unsuccessfully, that since it's in a font that I should be
>able to use it freely. :-(
>Kirstin Mercer
>Technical Editor
>InterCon Systems Corp.
it's probably not exactly "copyright infringement" but more like "trademark
infringement". Microsoft has a mechanism for granting use of their logo for
folks that follow certain guidelines and there's probably ways to get
permission for certain specific instances. If you have an exact specific use
in mind, you probably could get the Blessing of Bill applied to that exact
use. In some respects, i'm kinda surprised that they would put a mark in a
font that would be widely distributed yet they want to protect and control it.
Here's another example: bitstream sells (sold?) a series of fonts called
"L'il Bits" that includes things like fonts used the titles for Star Trek,
the Flintstones, the Jetsons and other similar things. (Babylon 5, on the
other hand, uses Serpentine Medium for their titles...) You can bet that if
you started using the symbology from the Pi fonts (examples would be the
"symbols" for the Federation, Klingon, or Ferengi civilizations) in those
sets or commerically using the type faces that were designed for the credits
that you would run the risk of incurring the wrath of Paramount or Hanna-
Barbera (or whatever they call themselves now).
bill newkirk
rockwell avionics/collins
wenewkirk -at- rodes -dot- cca -dot- rockwell -dot- com
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