On Jul 25, 2005, at 11:53 AM, David W. Fenton wrote:
I don't have time this afternoon to look at the decision but it
strikes me as wrong to call a font definition file a "program." It's
actually *data* to be used by some other program.
And so far as I am aware, you can't copyright data.
So, that would suggest to me that the case was wrongly decided
because of an invalid distinction between computer program and data.
You're quite right that one can't copyright data. The courts have
consistently ruled that a font definition file is a program, not data.
When a program like, say, Quark, is called upon to draw text, it
calculates the position for the desired character -- say an "a" -- and
then it calls on what is essentially a subroutine to draw that "a".
The subroutine is in the font definition file. It says something like:
Start at offset x,y; then draw horizontally for a distance of d, then
draw a curve as defined by the equation f(n), then draw a diagonal line
of slope l for a distance of d2 ... and so on and so forth until the
character is drawn. It is a small program that tells how to draw an
"a", and that small program is used by all the other large programs
that make use of fonts.
Ultimately, the borderline between "program" and "data" is fuzzy, I
think. At the other extreme, I might argue that any program written in
an interpreter language (eg, BASIC) can't be copyrighted, since it's
really just data to be used by the interpreter program, and you can't
copyright data. For that matter, why isn't C++ source code "data",
too? After all, it's just data to be used by the compiler.
Somewhere in the middle, the distinction between "program" and "data"
becomes blurred. I can see how reasonable people might differ on
exactly where to draw the line. In this case, the court's decision
doesn't seem off-base to me. (As oppoosed to some patents that have
been given to some basic algorithms, but that's another thread....)
mdl
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