Post #224905 by freddiefreelance on Tue, Apr 4, 2006 11:24 AM

On 2006-04-03 20:39, Tangaroa wrote:
Uhhhhhh.... the font used in the Haunted Mansion - "Bookman Italic Swashes" - was used by Disney back in the 60s.

Am I reading that correctly - that "Mista Gargoyle" is claiming that Disney uses his fonts (as opposed to him creating fonts based on signage that has been around for 20 to 50 years at least)?????

This page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/72057594089878910/
has Polynesian Resort Signage that makes the claim that the signs use "his" fonts, but as some of you know Bob & Leroy at Oceanic Arts created that signage back in the early 70s, which was no doubt art directed by W.E.D. at the time. They used the font "Blippo", yet this guy claims it as his!

You can get "Blippo" here:
http://www.myfonts.com/search?params[boolean]=and¶ms[searchtype]=fonts&search[text]=blippo

Check out this page:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrg/sets/49427/comments/
for some interesting comments about "his" fonts....

I don't think he's claiming he created the font used by the Polynesian Resort, he just likes those an other signs from DisneyWorld. I'm pretty sure he only means the fonts on the new signs & DVDs look more like his than the old fonts his are copied from. His own comment on this:

Well I'm happy and flattered that Disney is using my fan-made fonts, and if the Disney company has any problems with them, they've yet to inform me in the six years I've been publishing them (and they've been using them). And yes, my fonts contain enough unique elements that I can reliably identify them as my own.

Re: font copyright -- as others have mentioned, letter designs cannot be copyrighted, but the digitized data can. That's how fonts are copyrighted and sold. More info in my FAQ, at Wikipedia, and at Luc Devroye's website.

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance 2006-04-04 11:25 ]