On Mon, Jun 1, 2026 at 8:05 AM Michael De Roover via Unicode <[email protected]> wrote: > The core issue, though, is institutional and legal, not a judgment about the > value of these communities. Unicode cannot standardize scripts that are > copyrighted intellectual property without explicit permission from the rights > holders. The Tolkien Estate, Paramount, and miHoYo all retain legal control > over their fictional scripts.
We can acknowledge the risk without agreeing to the argument. In the US, scripts have explicitly been refused copyright protection. When Cyan tried to register the Myst D'Ni script, the US Copyright Office responded with a refusal letter explaining that writing systems are not copyrightable in the US. I am not familiar with any contrary decision in any country, though many do permit copyrighting typefaces, which the US does not. -- The standard is written in English . If you have trouble understanding a particular section, read it again and again and again . . . Sit up straight. Eat your vegetables. Do not mumble. -- _Pascal_, ISO 7185 (1991)
