TTF copyright conern.

Hi,

Many of the people who purchase hosting services from me are on WebTV/MSNTV. I provide the storage and management assets they require for their personal and professional projects.

One of the really big attractions for those in the 'WebTV community' is making what they call 'tags'. These are personalized images. There are a number of web sites where one can go to edit images online and one may be amazed at what can be done online from one of these technically obsolete boxes. (webTV)

Where the TTF issue comes into play is that there are potential copyright infringements it seems when one provides downloads of a TTF for which they are not aware of who owns the rights to that TTF nor if any copyright is even claimed.

There are literally thousands of TTF's floating around out there and since very few are distributed with an accompanying README file it is impossible to locate the owner/creator of the TTF file.

Would it seem sensible to place a gateway page to enter a site that offers TTF's for FREE use that states such things as:

1. every attempt to locate the owner of each TTF was made to gain permission to use.
2. each TTF contained within this site is made available for use with no charge by this site's owner.
3. if any TTF contained within is determined to be the property of a person or people who want it removed, it will be in fact removed immediately.
4. the use of the TTF's contained within are for the exclusive benefit of ONLY those not seeking to profit from their use in anyway.

... you know, something along that line. Further, a form could be added allowing a person who claims ownership of a TTF to have it removed from the list.

I guess what I am getting at is many of my clients are just people who generally are retired and find a great deal of enjoyment in making these 'tags' and graphics for thier private webpages. It seems that there is no harm in this what so ever since they ask for no type of compensation.

What do you think?

Where can I get the legal scoop on this?

Thanks.

- Brian

Disclaimer: This is only my personal oppinion here. I am not a lawyer and I cannot give you any legal advice.

But I can give you some technical views on that topic:
TTFs do contain copyright and owner information. You can view it via right-click, properties iirc. If not, check it with a font tool.

Thus said, I see a problem with 1,2,3 and 4 above.

In general, you should always assume that something is copyrighted unless it states otherwise.

M.