Question

Topic: Branding

Okay To Use Microsoft Or Web Fonts In Trademark?

Posted by pghpromo on 5/6/2007 at 4:42 PM ET 50 Points
Hello, all,

I was approached recently by a business acquaintance seeking assistance in developing a unique, brandable look for her company's name. The company intends to manufacturer and sell high-end slipcovers, clothes, and other accesories for home and personal use. Every item is to have the company name embroidered or otherwise marked upon it. According to her, they want a company name that is instantly, visually recognizable.

Within a few days, before I could develop anything suitable, she informed me her business partner had found a font in Microsoft Word that would suit their purposes just fine. They had already sent it off to a manufacturer to print onto some prototype items.

My impression has always been that fonts available in MSWord or other desktop applications are copyrighted and are not to be used commercially for trademarks, etc. But I must be wrong about this, as I see trademarked logos all over town here with readily identifiable fonts embedded---the inevitable "Curlz" and "Tempus Sans ITC" fonts come to mind immediately.

So am I wrong? How is this supposed to work? What about free fonts that are downloadable from various websites?

Does my friend have anything to worry about?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 5/6/2007 at 10:59 PM Accepted
    First some background. I am an intellectual property attorney.

    Second, fonts are not copyrightable under United States law. https://desktoppub.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=desktopp...

    Third, why do you want to limit your trademark registration to a particular font. Generally, over time, entities change their design and fonts related to a trademark, but keep the trade name. Consequently, you would be better off to register the trademark in standard character, and seek to file a second application to protect both the stylization and the name. Additionally, you may wish to obtain copyright protection for the artwork associated with the logo/design.
  • Posted by pghpromo on 5/10/2007 at 10:14 PM Author
    MPLAGER: Thanks for the input and the link to that interesting article. I am not privy to how my acquaintance plans to trademark the name or copyright the artwork. I was merely asked to develop a "look" for the name, and then they changed their mind and went with a standard MSWord font instead. I'm not even certain whether the font they selected was developed in USA or in some foreign country where copyright protection is afforded. So I'll just pass along your info and they can do with it what they want. Thanks again!
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