are farsiweb Persian fonts legal?

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Sasan

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May 1, 2012, 10:45:42 AM5/1/12
to Persian Computing
Hey guys.
I was just wondering if FarsiWeb Persian fonts are legal to use or
not. I mean how can it be possible to modify some typefaces that have
copyright holders and being sold out there (ie Nazanin
http://www.linotype.com/1263/Nazanin-family.html ) and redistribute it
under GPL?
I just want to make sure if I'm allowed to use this fonts on my
copylefted webpages or not.

Shervin Afshar

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May 1, 2012, 2:08:08 PM5/1/12
to Sasan, Persian Computing

John Hudson

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May 1, 2012, 2:22:49 PM5/1/12
to Persian Computing
On 01/05/12 11:08 AM, Shervin Afshar wrote:

> Small correction, there is no Nazanin included in FW font bundle. It's
> Nazli (originally by URW++). FW fonts are either URW++ or Bitstream,
> Inc. (acquired later by Monotype).

Both URW and Bitstream produced clones of Linotype fonts released under
different names. URW Nazli is a digitisation of the Nazanin design,
which is obvious by comparing them. The scale and outline geometries
differ, so obviously Linotype's font data was not used, but while the
URW and Bitstream digitisations may be strictly legal (depending on
jurisdiction) they continue to leave an ethical 'bad taste in the mouth'.

JH


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Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com
Gulf Islands, BC ti...@tiro.com

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Connie Bobroff

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May 2, 2012, 1:04:18 AM5/2/12
to John Hudson, Persian Computing
Perhaps someone could write a polite letter to the people representing Linotype and see what their stance is. This has been one of the pending issues in Persian computing for a long time now. Many years have gone by since we last contacted them and since we discovered Mr. Haghighi's (see archives of this group)  involvement in the making of Nazanin and other fonts, the ethical ramifications have become more interesting.

Shervin Afshar

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May 9, 2012, 7:37:15 PM5/9/12
to Sasan, Persian Computing
To wrap up the discussion of which fonts are "legally okay" to use, I'd recommend moving towards Droid Naskh Family which is Apache:

http://code.google.com/p/googlefontdirectory/source/browse/droidarabicnaskh/
http://29letters.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/droid-arabic-kufi-naskh-for-google%E2%84%A2/
http://www.29arabicletters.com/foundry/?m=1-1-1&fid=26

Or SIL's Scheherazade which is Open Font:

http://scripts.sil.org/ArabicFonts

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