NBC sued for $2M? Fontastic.
p2pnet news view | Advertising:- NBC has been sued by typographic design firm Font Bureau for allegedly infringing its fonts in marketing material used to promote NBC shows.
So says the Wall Street Journal.
“NBC Universal is one of the more hard core supporters of stronger copyright law, with regular statements from execs that border on ridiculous,” says TechDirt, citing general counsel Rick Cotton (right) as an example.
Rick Cotton? Not Rick Cotton, promoter of Peer Impact and the man carefully selected by the major studios to lead the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy’s Campaign to Protect America?
Or the Rick Cotton who once said, “In the absence of movie piracy, video retailers would sell and rent more titles. Movie theatres would sell more tickets and popcorn. Corn growers would earn greater profits and buy more farm equipment” – ?
Yup. That Rick Cotton.
“However,” says TechDirt, referring to the font-based lawsuit, “apparently even the ‘copyright maximalist’ lawyers and lobbyists over at NBC Unversal slip up once in a while,” going on:
“Of course, I think it’s ridiculous that any font company thinks it’s owed $2 million for such things (yes, font developers, I know you have strong feelings on this, but we’ve discussed them in the past). For all I care, NBC Universal should be able to do whatever it wants with the fonts it has. But, for a company that seems to tilt so far towards the copyright maximalist position, it seems worth noting when it faces a lawsuit for violating copyrights.
“Now, in an ideal world, it would be a teachable moment, where those lobbyists and lawyers might finally realize that in a modern digital world, perhaps copyright maximalism doesn’t make much sense (as if it ever did)… but that seems unlikely.”
(Cheers, RW)
Wall Street Journal – NBC Hit With Font Infringement Suit (Of All Things), October 9, 2009
TechDirt – NBC Sued For Over $2 Million… For Infringing On A Font, October 12, 2009
Peer Impact – The NEW Peer Impact, August 16, 2005
carefully selected – Corporate Power vs People Power, June 16, 2007
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