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authoranweshadas <anwesha@das.community>2022-03-08 21:57:57 +0100
committerRasmus Dahlberg <rasmus@mullvad.net>2022-03-08 22:05:48 +0100
commit741a65ab1894b35c9cc132d9b8401776c04fe1ce (patch)
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parenteaea8d10ac9e5d6533cc1348560418b70f791cf3 (diff)
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+# Choosing font for logo and website : how and why?
+
+We intended to use Font Rund [0] for Sigsum website and logo. Rund is licensed
+under Letters from Sweden [1]. It falls under the purview of proprietory
+license. We needed to decide on whether to stick with Rund or to go for another
+font licensed under SIL OFL [2] or any other permissive/Open Source/Free
+Software one.
+
+Before jumping into the conclusion we considered the following scenarios
+
+ - If the Sigsum developers and the community at large can freely use and/or
+ develop and/or contribute in the website or logo of the project?
+ - Do we need customized permission for every developer working in it?
+
+## Decision
+
+We decided not to use Rund.
+Choose a font which is licensed under SIL OFL.
+
+## Difference between SIL OPEN FONT LICENSE 1.1 and Letters from Sweden
+(Desktop Fonts)
+
+ 1. If we consider different types of font licenses in a line, then SIL OPEN
+ FONT LICENSE 1.1 and Letters from Sweden (Desktop Fonts) belong to the extreme
+ opposite side of the spectrum. While OFL follows the schema of Free and Open
+ Source, Letters from Sweden (Desktop Fonts) is of utmost proprietory.
+ 2. Terms Letters of Sweden intends to control the entire usage of the font and
+ the end-users. OFL stands for the freedom of the end-user.
+ 3. LoS is vague in its wording regarding the definition of entity, derivative
+ work, etc. In contrast, OFL is sufficiently worded to cover our intended
+ usage and aligned with our free and open-source ethos.
+ 4. When we choose a license, we choose a community and set the community's
+ expectation at large towards our project, OFL fits that bracket.
+
+## Trademark and Copyright overlap :
+
+To trademark the logo design in the future will create a weird overlap between
+copyright law (especially around open source licenses) and trademark law, in
+which the open-source license may grant permission to use the logo in a way that
+could be restricted by trademark law. However, our lack of knowledge in Swedish
+Intellectual Property laws makes us unsure whether it will not.
+
+## Reasoning for the decision:
+
+We could use for website and never needed permission for each developer working
+on it. It was logo where we got stuck. The license in the current form and
+wording is strictly commercial therefore limits our usage. Also the license does
+not define/recognise Open Source project in any form. There is another topic
+which might be potential issue i.e overlap of Trademark and Copyright, we do not
+want to deal that. The whole thought process can be found in the pad. Also we
+have presentation [3] on Font licensing overall and specific to our use-case.
+
+## Miscellaneous Notes
+
+Under this we contain the highlights of our discussion that led to our
+abovementioned decision.
+
+### Some practical usecase/questions to consider
+
+- If we can print merchendise with our logo designed with the particular font
+on it?
+- If someone/some group from the community at large wants to use font as a text
+in a merchandise/webpage for some stuff related to sigsum what will be the fate
+then? (Say a developer from Japan wants to print a t-shirt with Sigsum logo and
+text -"Join Sigsum")
+- Does every developer developing the website needs to get the font license
+separately or there is an option for volume licensing?
+
+### Possible outcomes
+
+Utopia: Letters of Sweden license the font (Rund) to us under OFL or an
+equivalently free license.
+
+The Swap: We change to another less nice font, but with a nicer license.
+
+The Ostriche: We go ahead using Rund with their license and fix any issues with
+it later.
+
+## The Motivation and the discussion before making the decision
+
+**We should not be using Rund at all.**
+
+Taking explicit permission from LoS will require substantially much work,
+communication, persuasion from our side, killing the precious time of our actual
+project work. The overlap between trademark and copyright is an entirely
+unknown arena right now. Also, since Fonts licensed under OFL is used in
+various open-source projects around the community, it will be easy to apply the
+foss norms/rules here. Lars came up with the idea of a tailor-made for us
+licensed under SIL. Nevertheless, this is out-of-scope because the goal project
+Sigsum is way different from font creation. Further, this option is too costly
+for us.
+
+## References
+0. https://lettersfromsweden.se/font/rund/
+1. https://lettersfromsweden.se/license/
+2. https://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=OFL_web
+3. https://slides.com/dascommunity/font-licensing-sigsum-project