Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/24/goldman-sachs-releases-its-own.html
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In the boardroom of Goldman Sachs:
‘We are in an unprecedented financial crisis. Doom is imminent. We need a font!’
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Should create a contest to see who can get the font revoked the fastest.
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Ha. That’s comical. Especially with a Sans font.
It’s almost like a “comic sans”.
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spot on Matt Taibbi quote:
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It’s almost like they’re daring us
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Mmm, ok, but I kinda like the font. I am a sucker for bold, black fonts like that.
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My company had 2 official fonts. We never released them to the public, because no one really cared. Even internally there was a lack of interest.
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You can’t actually copyright a font. You can copyright the name of the font. You can license the font.
If the license doesn’t prohibit reproducing it, you could publish, oh, SilverGirl Sans
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So fun fact about most font licenses and copyright - they apply to the file (font = file), not the characters (characters = typeface). Generally a typeface cannot be copyrighted, but the font software can be (unique but explicit code within the software, etc.)
So this license would be pertinent to “live” web text primarily, as it uses the font to produce the typeface in real time (you actively use the font software). A jpeg or printed poster does not use the font, but rather displays a previously (i.e. not actively) rendered typeface. So little they can do there, unless they catch you using the font in photoshop.
Also not a lawyer just what I have learned about font licenses/copyright as a web developer so don’t quote me here 
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In the US, the font is actually copyrighted. You can’t copyright the typeface, i.e. the shape of the characters. But the software file itself is copyrighted. You can’t copyright a font name (or any name). But the name is a part of their trademark, so they could probably do some damage to you in a lawsuit if they wanted to.
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As Baerkins said, as a web developer I learned a little about fonts and typefaces. One of my customers’ Boards decided they were going to use a font. I remember saying at the time “but isn’t that proprietary?” “What does that mean?” they asked. “Someone owns it”, I replied. They weren’t interested. They got interested later, when they had to fork over some collossal amount of money that ruined them.
Some time later another one of my customers’ boards decided the same damn thing. I was able to stop them. In part, they owe their continued existence to my timely warning.
Typefaces aren’t copyright in the UK the same way as they are in the US. But where they are, beware.
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Hmmm, given the discussion above, it seems that making PNG (or other lossless) files of each letter would be just fine and uncouple the font from the typeface (and thereby uncoupling GS’s copyright). Then it would seem another enterprising person could arrange those images in any order … even ones that criticize GS.
Question for the class: would the individual images be copyrighted (copyright is automatic, don’t forget).
Bonus question: if not individually copyrightable, would the collection be copyrighted?
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Well, I mean, how many fucking fonts does the world need anyway? Whaddawe have now, like 30K to choose from? A person could spend an entire lifetime searching for just the right font, only to say: FUCK THIS.
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Can I make lists of the things that Goldman Sachs have done over the years with it, but without any commentary?
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You could have just left out the Sachs, for brevity.
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I think we all want to know where this font would rank among people who think that it really matters.
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