Re: using the feta font in a GPL2 application

[Carl Sorensen]

On 3/29/11 12:10 PM, "Han-Wen Nienhuys" <address@hidden> wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 3:48 PM, Florian Jung <address@hidden> wrote:
>>>>>> As far as permission to use it the current font under GPL2, I think
>>>>>> Han-Wen
>>>>>> and Jan need to give that permission.
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> i assume Han-Wen and Jan also read that mailing list, so i'm asking for
>>>>> permission to use the current font :)
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I believe that *everybody* who has worked on the feta fonts would need
>>>> to give that permission.  You can find this list by looking at the git
>>>> changelog messages for those files, but I do not recommend going
>>>> further with this.  I really recommend that you either use the old
>>>> GPLv2 feta fonts, or use GPLv3 (possibly 3+) for your application.
>>>> 
>>>> It's unfortunate that copyright law gets in the way like this, but it
>>>> does.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> Well, only if anyone decides to make an issue of this, and it's not
>>> like we claim any sort of rights over images of the font when we put
>>> them on paper or screen. I think you can just go ahead with muse2.
>>> 
>>> I'd recommend using freetype for the rendering instead btw, as you'll
>>> be more flexible wrt symbol sizes on screens of different device
>>> resolutions.
>>> 
>> 
>> may i read that as a "feel free to use the font, if someone decides that he
>> doesn't like that, he will kindly ask you to use another font instead of
>> killing you immediately" :)?
> 
> This reads as: "please stop fussing over tiny differences in GPL
> versions; if you have a good idea, just do it."
> 
> I don't think we can claim GPL rights over bitmaps of the font anyway.
>  Then again IANAL, and neither is anyone else on the list.  I did
> however, write the biggest portion of the feta code over which we are
> agonizing.

According to the FSF, this is correct.  The font face is not copyrightable.
But outlines may be.

http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/20050425novalis

Sounds like Han-Wen's answer is perfect.

Carl