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The secret history of font piracy

Linus Boman
183K subscribers
239K views 3 weeks ago
Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/linusboman Nebula Sans documentary: https://nebula.tv/videos/nebula-sans or    • Nebula Sans   Bonus commentary video: https://nebula.tv/videos/linusboman-c... The infamous anti-DVD-piracy PSA turns out to have used a "pirated" font. That's deliciously ironic, but is it the most ironic case of font piracy of all time? Let's unpack a few cases from the long shared history of type design and piracy and find out. Thanks to ‪@JacobGeller‬ and ‪@MedlifeCrisis‬ for lending their voices! Sources and Links: https://www.notion.so/timesnewboman/A... After the video was published, type designer Nick Sherman added further nuance and recommended readings on Mastodon – https://typo.social/@nicksherman/1145... Also worth reading - a great thread getting into the finer details of fonts and copyright by Rutherford Craze: https://typo.social/@mass_driver/1146... 00:00 You would …...more
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The secret history of font piracy
10KLikes
239,360Views
May 222025
Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/linusboman Nebula Sans documentary: https://nebula.tv/videos/nebula-sans or    • Nebula Sans   Bonus commentary video: https://nebula.tv/videos/linusboman-c... The infamous anti-DVD-piracy PSA turns out to have used a "pirated" font. That's deliciously ironic, but is it the most ironic case of font piracy of all time? Let's unpack a few cases from the long shared history of type design and piracy and find out. Thanks to ‪@JacobGeller‬ and ‪@MedlifeCrisis‬ for lending their voices! Sources and Links: https://www.notion.so/timesnewboman/A... After the video was published, type designer Nick Sherman added further nuance and recommended readings on Mastodon – https://typo.social/@nicksherman/1145... Also worth reading - a great thread getting into the finer details of fonts and copyright by Rutherford Craze: https://typo.social/@mass_driver/1146... 00:00 You wouldn't steal an iconic grunge font 01:00 The original font: FF Confidential 02:14 The pirate font: XBand Rough 02:56 Can a font even be copyrighted? It's complicated. 05:10 Grand Theft Typo, a.k.a. the Bitstream Heist 08:58 CD-ROM: The original slop era 11:24 Pirates of Lead (but in Latin for extra pretentiousness) 13:06 Type Crimes... History Rhymes 18:49 Commerce and design can never be separated

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Linus Boman

183K subscribers