Courts can only weigh in on legal issues when people bring a dispute before the court. In this case, if someone did what the author describes it would trigger a lawsuit from typographers, which would give the court a chance to (re)interpret or overturn the existing law.
Outline fonts (that contain programmable elements) are considered software and are copyrightable. A rendered output of such a font is not. It may legally matter who makes that rendered output, that they have the right to use the font software in that fashion. But someone working from a specimen? They should have the right to digitize that font themselves, and employ creative decision-making in placing the control points. In fact, that very thing has happened numerous times within the typography industry.
Just compare Inter vs Roboto vs San Francisco. Are they different? Technically yes. Are they different enough to allow for all three to be granted legal protection? I’d say no. And if you say yes, then it comes down to how different is different enough and the entire field becomes a legal nightmare
Where do fonts come from? Monotype, mostly https://thehustle.co/where-do-fonts-come-from/
I agree in spirit, but as I wrote on my blog months ago, I just refuse to engage with an industry that had decided to adopt some of the worst licenses possible to sell their products.
Until foundries start adopting sensible licenses for webfonts I’ll just refuse to give money to them.
You're using slacktivism as cover for bad behavior. I'm not saying that IP laws aren't f'd up and wrong. They absolutely are.
But two wrongs don't make a right, and it's the same nonsense that folks have been making since the beginning of the internet to justify what amounts to petty theft.
I paid for fonts when people have sane licenses to support good behavior.
I also support and use open source typefaces.
What else am I supposed to do? Pay a goddamn typeface more money than I make working full time in a month?
Pirate all the lame movies you want, but please, if nothing else, pay typographers and buy direct from their foundries.
If any brave souls are interested in legally pirating all existing fonts and being taken there, I think you’d likely be doing a service to society here in challenging this.
The service to society is already being done by the typographers. The service you can do to society is to pay them for their passion, precision, and care.