TorrentFreak

The place where breaking news, BitTorrent and copyright collide

French 3 Strikes Group Unveils Copyright Infringing Logo

Hadopi, the French agency charged with handling file-sharers’ copyright digressions, has just made a huge infringement faux pas of its own. Last week the group unveiled the logo which is set to represent this bastion of copyright righteousness, but embarrassingly it was designed with unlicensed fonts.

Starting in the spring, French file-sharers are set to be tracked and firmly dealt with by the country’s controversial Hadopi agency.

Late last week at a ceremony in Paris, Frédéric Mitterrand, French Minister of Culture and Communication, unveiled Hadopi’s new logo, the emblem which will help – at least as far as the government and copyright holders are concerned – strike fear into online pirates and force them to change their ways.

It soon became clear, however, that there was a fundamental problem with the design. The logo, already officially registered for 2 months with the National Institute of Industrial Property, had been created with an unlicensed font called “Bienvenue.”

This font was originally created by an employee of France Telecom in 2000, designer Jean-François Porchez. Writer Julien L from French news site Numerama told TorrentFreak that the problem goes even deeper.

“The problem is, this font was an ‘exclusive corporate typeface’. It couldn’t be used for other purposes than France Telecom/Orange products,” he told us.

The creator of the font confirmed that the ‘d’ and ‘p’ had been slightly modified and the rest of the font stretched slightly, but this wasn’t enough to class it as a new design.

Numerama contacted Plan Créatif, the agency which created the Hadopi logo, and they confirmed that ‘their’ font indeed violated the rights for the Bienvenue font, but that it was a mere “error of manipulation.”

Yesterday there was panic, as Hadopi tried to repair the damage by sourcing new matching fonts they could license legally.

Their design agency approached two British companies, Fontsmith and Jeremy Tankard Typography, to buy the ‘FS Lola’ and ‘Bliss’ fonts, and proceeded to hurriedly to license these fonts and recreate the logo.

Hadopi has issued an apology through gritted teeth, but while France Telecom-Orange has confirmed it won’t be taking legal action over the infringement of its rights, the same cannot yet be said of Jean-François Porchez. He has contacted his lawyer to see what can be done.

That’s one huge embarrassing first strike for you, Hadopi.

Related Posts

Previous Post | Next Post

  • Jin

    Haaaa FAIL

  • self helpless

    do as i say, not as i do.

  • Mr.Afghanistan

    what’s all these useless license sh!ts ?

    Now if we move our arse, we have to ask for it ?

    license license license, license my arse.

    No More F**king Freedom, license this, copyright that.

    Some jack@ss companies even copyrighted some P0rn images, why on earth someone should copyright some junky p0rn images for ?

    Now a days everything is copyrighted.

    I wrote some words just now and it’s (C), don’t f**king dare to copy my words else i will sue ur arse, isn’t it crazy ?

    Government should think about it and stop all these Bullsh!ts really.

    F**k this world, anti piracy companies/Lawyers are ripping everyone. somebody should stop all these bullsh!ts ASAP.

  • ultraleetj

    damned corporate hypocrites! never believing a word from them ever agin. :P

  • GuiB

    UAHUAHUAH

    great justice

  • TheSpark

    I think they just lost all their credibility.

    By the way I love that last line: “That’s one huge embarrassing first strike for you, Hadopi.”

    Classic.

  • pirate with guns

    haha that is awsome, i hope dude takes em to court, dumbass fr@cking anti-pirates

  • LUpe Jones

    Oh wow, you gotta feel for those peeps dont you>

    Feel
    http://www.web-privacy.se.tc

  • I Hate Copyright

    There is a story on Techdirt Copyright Monopolies In The Middle Of Health Care Reform Debate As Well about more copyright stupidity. The world has gone copyright crazy. I think I’m going to copyright the word copyright and then everyone will owe me money and if you don’t pay me I will send and armed bunch of copyright enforcers to kick your door in and take all your stuff, rape your dog and murder your fish! Filthy savages!

  • JTK

    @6 – I wasen’t aware they had credibility in the first place?

  • Anonymous

    While Hadopi using an unlicensed font is an insignificant infringement that few people are likely to care about, this is a good example of the prevalence of copyright law. In the digital age we are taking copyright far, far too seriously (don’t get me wrong, artists getting paid is still an important concept, but enforcing it to the point of choking peoples’ lives for minor infringements is very wrong) and are enforcing it with way too much extremism. The laws are going to need to change sooner or later because they just plain don’t work today.

    Preemptive @Reasoned Mind/neo

    Obvious troll is obvious.

  • Manky

    It’s the French… noone cares

  • JoonasD6

    Two strikes left.

  • Aussie

    Finally!

    Now I have proof that you CAN anally rape yourself!

  • Sweetie Magic-Bun

    This whole copyright thing is patently ;) ridiculous and as such should be completely ignored.

    So should software patents.

  • Phoenix

    why does the name seem like p0rn related !

  • Arne

    *gg*

    glynmoody is right: you really can hardly make this up :)

    Sadly they take it serious. I hope they are sued hard enough to stop taking it serious… though thinking about “dog bites cat, cat bites mouse, mouse is left dead” it might not be that good if they take much punishment now. Filesharers will likely be on the receiving side of the “bite against mouse”.

    I’d like to patent the act of enforcing a copyright… would be a hell of a good income source ;)

  • GuiB

    sue them in 600k.

    just like they did with joel.

  • Nobby

    I say cut off their internet!

  • anti-arses

    Manky

    It’s the French… noone cares

    you little racist…
    the day some form of hadopi will come knock to your door,i’ll be the first one to laugh my guts out about it!!!
    people like you shouldn’t exist!

    you’ve never heard about: sharing is caring?
    well if you do share( and that’s IF),you sure don’t care.
    we are a big family and i’m ashamed you are part of it( for now…;))

  • meh

    @12 Jan 12, 2010 at 18:18 by Manky It’s the French… noone cares

    Ok you are obviously very stupid. Many of the file sharers come from French lands and territories. Also because of Hadopi, I am now using a vpn that was born from ipred and hadopi because the law is unjust.

    Next time think before you speak
    http://www.sharevirus.com

  • Alex

    I was really hoping the logo would be a cowering guy surrounded by three guys with baseball bats!

  • AlienDK

    1, 2, 3, YOU’RE OUT!

  • me

    Yay hypocrisy.

  • abolish copyright now

    noone owns information. in a free society everyone has the right to access and to use all information and to benefit from the free flow of information.

    the monopolists of information are attempting to deprive society of access, usage and the free flow of information.

    copyright is the basis that the monopolists of information use to deprive society of access, usage and the free flow of information.

    as long as copyright exists the monopolists of information will threaten society with the cruel and arbitrary punishment for copyright infringement.

    abolish copyright now.

  • LePhro

    E-E-E-Epppppicccccc F-F-F-Faaaaiiillll

  • DRuNKeN MaSTeR

    Aaaand the First Strike EVER goes to: hadopi.

    Lol, pwned.

  • ben ben

    I agree with Mr.Afghanistan, this copyright bs has gotten out of control. When will people wake up and realize that anything written, sung, filmed or otherwise always involves someone elses idea, atleast partly, whether they copyrighted it or not. We are living in 2010 and our species has been walking this planet for some time now. Can we get over this copyright infringement bs? Let people express themselves, sing whatever they want and watch whatever they want. If you are good at what you do, copyright laws or not, you won’t go hungry. So just get over it u rich, greedy f…s.

  • FedUp

    HAHAHAHAHAHAH©

  • ANALyse

    I don’t understand

    You say copyright is irrelevant and should be abolished

    Then you admonish an administration for copyright violation

    /IRONY/

  • jsncross

    I am going to use their logo without permisson whenever I get a chance

  • General Armorus

    well said ben ben

  • Anonymous

    good game

  • adams

    @ Nobby

    HAHA Yeah, you’re right, their internet should be cut off!!

  • RoestVrijStaal

    Their first victim(s) are themselves :þ

    Just like the same HYPER EPIC FAIL:
    babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwebwereld.nl%2Fnieuws%2F55904%2Fsarkozy-onder-vuur-om-muziekdiefstal.html&lp=nl_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

    (automatic translated from dutch to english)

  • RoestVrijStaal
  • me

    I’m surprised that copyright law applies to the almighty copyright cops. After all, regular cops can break all kinds of laws too in order to enforce them (like e.g. speeding to catch speedsters).

    But still: ah, the irony! :)

  • Anonymous

    @25

    Copyright deals with creative expression, not facts. Thanks for playing.

  • abolish copyright now

    i say copyright is harmful to society and should be abolished.

    society needs to realize that copyright is not going away until society decides to abolish copyright.

  • Panda

    Strike one. ^^

  • djnforce9

    I didn’t even realize something like fonts had licensing involved. It must be rather difficult designing a logo over there in France.

    At least it’s a corporation we all hate that got burned from violating it so all’s well ends well :D.

  • copywrong

    This is embarrassing. Hehehe.

  • abolish copyright now

    the creative expression in works of authorship as defined by copyright law can all be reduced to text or image or sound or binary information.

    whatever you call it in a free society everyone has the right to access and to use all information and to benefit from the free flow of information.

  • blarg

    Not the mention it looks like a goatse.

  • rty

    I’m sure that we will come to find later on that Hadopi is owned by someone in french parliment or is owned by a company that is indirectly owned by someone in french parliment…

    That’s generally how these thing tend to play out.

  • Brandon

    Yeh like they are going to go far. Their boat is already sinking…

  • sUpAGee

    stupid B@stards ..

  • Anonymous

    Copyrighting fonts on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics.
    Even if anti-piracy groups win, they’re still retarded!

  • GuyFawkes

    Let´s go May 68 and hit the streets on France

    http://www.traditioninaction.org/bev/bevimages/bv098_Sorbonne01.jpg

  • Anonymous

    80,000 per song
    80,000 per letter/character

  • Matthew

    Epic fail! What noobs

  • SkyBon

    LOL! EPIC FAIL

  • Rekrul

    It’s such a plain font, how the hell can anyone tell it apart from the several hundred other fonts that look virtually identical?

  • United Hackers Association

    and in related NEWS nicolas sarkozy has offered this corporation 1$ as compensation for the theft.

  • Sanderman

    If you think this is bad, then take a look at software patents.

    Here at least the blame lies with the designers of the logo for using a font without the license.

    Imagine getting sued for a 100% original piece of code in an application you distribute because it just so happens to violate an obscure patent.

  • tmc

    Hey, props to the Frenchies! I get some of the *best* torrent speeds from .fr addresses (upwards of 2 megabits each)! They even make the Swedish and Netherlands torrent sharers look stingy on their upload torrent rates.

    That said, as long as the french “pirates” don’t lay down as the stereotype of WWII to these scum then I’m supportive of ya! Make no mistake… this copyright thing is a WAR of corporations vs the internet consumer!

  • Kapcha

    Hadopi = Fail xD

  • interval

    What a hadopi name.

  • DefaultUser

    hahaha, pwnage :D

    EPIC FAIL

  • kottonface

    This is definitely the funniest thing I’ve read or heard all week. Epic Fail!!!

  • skakidd

    wow what a bunch of twats. Rape their wallets Mr. Jean-François.

  • Anonymous

    Why the surprise? Sarkozy already pirated 400 DVDs and used copyright music without authorisation.

    http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/08/nicolas-copyright-sa.html

  • kabzae

    Why the surprise? Sarkozy already pirated 400 DVDs and used copyright music without authorisation.

    http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/08/nicolas-copyright-sa.html

  • lol

    Annnd there goes any chance of taking them seriously..

    YOUR BUSINESS INVOLVES COPYRIGHT.. yet you are not perfect in the ways of your own practice?

    Clear evidence that copyright is all BS.. they cant follow it, nor can we.

  • Anonymous

    i loled on rl

  • Anon

    1 strike down two to go. We’ll have these thieving wankers banned from the interweb in no time.

  • pwned

    epic fail…

  • Anonymous

    @abolish copyright now

    i say copyright is harmful to society and should be abolished.

    I agree that our current implementation of copyright is FUBAR and in desperate need of significant revision, but why is the concept of copyright a bad thing?

    Remember, copyright is supposed to encourage innovation and creation by giving artists some reassurance that they’ll profit off the works they release if they choose to and if there’s any profit to be had. In a world where large corporations hold more power than any individual, even in the age of the Internet, laws that stop Big Content from appropriating the work of others and selling it are good.

    Of course, that example is for commercial infringement. Noncommercial infringement, ie a teenager downloading a movie, is far, far more illegal than it ought to be. You can’t stop people from sharing files, and if enough people want to do it, the laws need to at least consider a change to reflect the changing world. Big Content is making a whole universe of mistakes by attacking these otherwise innocent people who aren’t actually doing any harm, or if harm exists, it is “statistically indistinguishable from” nothing.

    Giving big corporations the intellectual property rights they have is bad. But ensuring that artists get to eat is good. I’m not convinced that we should abandon copyright altogether, just drastically edit it to legalize noncommercial infringement (p2p).

  • Jeff

    HAHAHA… Oh man that is pretty good one!
    http://www.ecigarettesinc.com

  • lol

    They say things come in 3′s, lol, can’t wait for the next 2 screwups from these hypocritical bastards.

  • Pingback: === popurls.com === popular today

  • prodigydancer

    @68/Anonymous
    “copyright is supposed to encourage innovation and creation”

    You do realize that it’s a load of BS, don’t you? Copyright can only encourage BUSINESS because it’s a way to make guaranteed money. It can’t encourage art, it can only encourage mass culture.

    “some reassurance that they’ll profit off the works they release”
    As an artist I think that it’s a very BAD idea. Only QUALITY works of art should ever result in a compensation. Creative activities must imply the risk of gaining nothing in return. Without it we will only get crap. Like now.

  • Anonymous

    Lulz

  • Pingback: French Anti-piracy Agency Unveils Copyright Infringing Logo

  • h

    1. Fail
    2. Terribly designed logo anyway, just seeing that aesthetically unappealing image makes me question their capability as a “French agency charged with handling file-sharers’ copyright digressions.”
    But Calling their infringement huge is a bit of an exaggeration.

  • TerribleTony

    And I bet the original designers still got a very nice chunk of public money, thank you very much.

  • Pingback: France’s anti-piracy goon squad pirates the font in its logo | dv8-designs

  • a

    @71
    ” “copyright is supposed to encourage innovation and creation”

    You do realize that it’s a load of BS, don’t you? Copyright can only encourage BUSINESS because it’s a way to make guaranteed money. It can’t encourage art, it can only encourage mass culture.”

    First of all art isn’t and will never be, in the foreseeable future, a guaranteed way to make money. In fact the majority of artists lose money. But in a capitalist society, it has to be a business for any hope of making any money from music, etc.

    ““some reassurance that they’ll profit off the works they release”
    As an artist I think that it’s a very BAD idea. Only QUALITY works of art should ever result in a compensation. ”

    You think that only “quality” works of art should result in compensation… That is very subjective, and I don’t even know what would be an acceptable way of judging weather it is “quality” or not… Obviously most people consider lady gaga and whatever else is popular nowdays, quality. So, your argument is a bit weak.

    “Creative activities must imply the risk of gaining nothing in return. Without it we will only get crap. Like now.”

    I am starting to doubt that you are an artist… You really think that there is no risk in art?? Seriously???

    No I do not believe that individuals should be punished for downloading a few songs. But I do believe that copyright is important, though, something needs to change for it to really work today.

  • Pingback: Frankreichs Three Strikes-Gesetz hat ein unlizensiertes Font-Problem - Nerdcore

  • KTF7

    © isn’t only for big business, it’s often the individuals or the small companies who aren’t filthy rich who rely on © to protect their income. Sure, individual use isn’t a problem but why should somebody else be able to make money simply by copying your work? It’s taking your skills and hard work and making money from it with no input of their own.
    © has it’s place, but maybe needs to be reworked to reflect protection against copying for profit.

  • Whatever

    @6, @13 and others who also remembered and even put links to some other French goverment infringements.

    It’s actually STRIKE 3!!!!, its not like they didn’t have experience in these “mistakes” before. I wonder how the other lawsuit(s) are doing.

    If we “infringe”, we could have one of the following defenses if law is the same to all:
    1. Put it on a pending list.
    2. Pay a symbolic eurocent(for political gain it costs a whole euro)
    3. Just apologize (this article)
    4. Keep claiming you own the copyright and send takedown notices against the real owner.

    Probably forgot some…

    PS: Sarkozy is probably so embarred by his wife’s music he had to change the law so nobody can hear it by downloading as he is certain nobody is ever going to buy it. :-)

  • Demfan

    HA HA HA!

  • Pingback: France’s anti-piracy goon squad pirates the font in its logo

  • Hardrive

    The logo is shit anyway

  • Nonan

    Looking forward to the “2nd strike”

  • Pingback: Anonymous

  • Anonymous

    @71

    You do realize that it’s a load of BS, don’t you?

    No.

    Copyright can only encourage BUSINESS because it’s a way to make guaranteed money.

    Um, no. The idea behind copyright is that if you as a creator have some guarantees of recouping your investment in your work (unless you’ve found some magical way to create for free?), then you have an extra incentive to produce and release those works. Copyright holders aren’t legally required to sell their works; look at copyleft.

    It can’t encourage art, it can only encourage mass culture.

    You’ve got to be careful with these labels. Certainly I agree that art created solely for profit will lack the spirit that it might have otherwise, but what do you define as “mass culture?” Is it just art that people happen to make money from? If so, you’re leaving out a tremendous amount of “middling” content that is neither completely free nor completely locked behind a paywall.

    As an artist I think that it’s a very BAD idea.

    If you don’t want to profit from what you create, good for you. Use copyleft or the public domain. But I don’t think you should be able to tell others what they can and can’t do with what they create. If they want to make money off it, they can.

    Only QUALITY works of art should ever result in a compensation.

    Which is pretty much how copyright works now. Nobody is legally obligated to buy a creative work. If people like it, they buy it.

    Creative activities must imply the risk of gaining nothing in return.

    See above. They do.

    Without it we will only get crap. Like now.

    So by your logic, if you’re guaranteed to make money off it, it will suck? It must therefore be true as well that if it’s nonprofit, it’s good. If that’s so, look into copyleft. Artists make no money from copies of a copylefted work; does that mean all copylefted works are good?

    No. Of course not. The point is that whether something is “crap” is a subjective thing that is best left to the individual to decide, not for one self-proclaimed artist to decide for everyone else.

    Off-topic: Interesting that we’ve seen no antipirate trolls in this article. Obviously they selectively pick their angles for attacking everyone that’s not them.

  • Pingback: Logo de Hadopi viola derechos de autor | Noticortos.com

  • Monster

    Enjoy the Cylon revolution : http://twitpic.com/x8vog lulz

  • John Down

    @81 – “If people like it, they buy it.”

    Sadly the concept does not apply in real world to most music, movies or video games, to name but a few.

    The real world concept is “If you don’t like it, you legally have to pay for it anyway since you listened / watched / played it.”

    Piracy IS necessary.

  • Anonymous

    @83

    While I agree with you for the most part, the point of that bit of my post was simply that people tend to pay for things they like. Contrary to what neostyles thinks, not everyone who downloads is a thief or doesn’t want to pay for things.

  • Pingback: Copyright-Verletzung: Hadopi-Logo mit exklusiver Schriftart der France Telecom - datensicherheit.de Informationen zu Datenschutz und Datensicherheit

  • Pingback: Blamage für Piraten-Jäger: Hadopi enthüllt Logo mit ‘geklautem’ Font | Basic Thinking Blog

  • alienjoe

    Hi, Here’s how to get yourself a free PS3, iPod, wii or even cash!. Just go to – urfreegifts.com It’s FREE and has been­ researched by the BBC to be absolutely genuine. Simply­ go to the site and select the gift you would like or­ cash if you prefer. For full info and proof its real­ just go to urfreegifts.com

  • alienjoe

    Hi, Here’s how to get yourself a free PS3, iPod, wii or even cash!. Just go to – urfreegifts.com It’s FREE and has been­ researched by the BBC to be absolutely genuine. Simply­ go to the site and select the gift you would like or­ cash if you prefer. For full info and proof its real­ just go to http:www.urfreegifts.com

  • Recton Kracke

    @ #81 anonymous

    Why do I have this funny feeling that YOU are one of the ‘anti pirate trolls’ pulling the old ‘trying to appear reasonable while still spewing propaganda’

    You seem to be saying that copyright is somehow necessary.

    Rembrandt didn’t need it.

    Neither did Beethoven, Rubens or Michelangelo.

    They didn’t die poor.

  • Duplicator

    @81:If you don?t want to profit from what you create, good for you. Use copyleft or the public domain. But I don?t think you should be able to tell others what they can and can?t do with what they create. If they want to make money off it, they can.

    You, sir, are a moron. You’re right, I shouldn’t be able to tell others what they can and can’t do with what they create — it’s not me, or file sharers, who encourage RESTRICTIONS, it’s morons like you who TAKE AWAY THE RIGHTS FROM OTHERS

    Copyright is not a “right” of people, it’s taking the rights out of everyone else, in effect, YOU ARE TELLING OTHERS WHAT THEY CAN AND CAN’T DO WITH THE STUFF THEY HAVE, WHETHER THEY CAN UPLOAD IT OR NOT

  • Duplicator

    To clarify, I don’t think anyone restricts people from selling their works — what they do, though, is make them unable to tell others what to do with a specific sequence of 1s and 0s. You know, we lift the restrictions.

    You are free to sell your work, just don’t effing tell me what I can do if I have it as long as I don’t profit from it (which would be fraud or plagiarism, not ‘piracy’ or ‘sharing’, a different things which has existed long before ‘copyright’).

  • hadopi

    do as we say, not as we do.

  • Ninja

    Wow!! Epic fail lmao…

    Shows how copyright can completely kill creativity.

  • G in DC

    Consider this side of it…
    …you spend a good chunk of your life learning to design typefaces, get yourself into a position to make a living selling your designs, get a contract to design an exclusive face for French Telecom, work for weeks or months to finish the job

    …and then someone just takes it, uses it, and you don’t see a dime. Or credit. You might be pretty pissed if it were your profession.

  • Pingback: France’s anti-piracy goon squad pirates the font in its logo | Newsblog

  • Pingback: Logo Hadopi illégal : les américains se marrent bien ! « Next Geek

  • dude

    i don’t think anything better could have happened. let’s hope all these fools and their partners continue to embarrass themselves

  • Pingback: DOH! French copyright agency infringes copyright law - SLUniverse Forums

  • Hippa

    The original Logo is from the N°1 ISP “Wanadoo” (Now known as “Orange”)
    http://www.logotheque.fr/6707-2/logo+WANADOO.jpg
    HADOPI actually double pirated this, because they kept the look and the color of the logo, and used a typo from “France Telecom” (owner of Wanadoo).

    @ anti-frenchies, don’t laugh too much, because after us, Hadopi will come to you. This is very inspiring for Obama… I think you know that, right ?
    We are the last hope of man kind… this is a war, and we have to resist until 2012 (no, not the end of the world, but the next elections in France) but Hadopi will start in few months.

    French people are very active and seed a lot… But they start to leave public trackers, and this is bad for everyone.

  • Dan

    LMFAO c’est comme un baton dans le derrière just like a stud in the a$$!!

  • joshzam

    I actually like the new font better than the original one.

  • Pingback: Ben’s Tech Show – Ep #66 – Banned from the Great Wall | Ben's Tech Show

  • MD3

    sorry but…

    !!! O W N E D !!!

  • prodigydancer

    @75/a

    “First of all art isn’t and will never be, in the foreseeable future, a guaranteed way to make money.”
    Oh, but it IS. Not for individuals, but for companies. Or are you trying to tell me that show business doesn’t exist or is starving? ;-)

    “In fact the majority of artists lose money.”
    Copyright isn’t about protecting artists. It’s about protecting industries.

    “But in a capitalist society…”
    Are you kidding? In capitalist society the strongests should survive and they should survive on THEIR OWN. Copyright is crutches. It supports oligarchic society and it grants unfair advantages to industries vs. individuals.

    “You think that only “quality” works of art should result in compensation… That is very subjective, and I don’t even know what would be an acceptable way of judging weather it is “quality” or not…”
    And that’s why copyright must be abolished. Let people, not advertisement, decide what should be rewarded.

    “You really think that there is no risk in art??”
    For media enterprises and software companies? No, currently there’s no risk for them. They make money out of thin air and they are protected by copyright. It’s much like selling heroin and having government subsidies at the same time.

  • Atari

    @92

    People haven’t been profiting from fonts since 1992.
    Maybe you should wake up and realize that it’s 2010.
    Microsoft already bought out 93% of the current copyright fonts anyways, so what makes the next person’s font stand out differently that would make business’s shell out cash for it?

    Oh snap, someone just used a font I made one day in MSpaint that looked similar to the letter (L)
    Time to call my lawyers and start suing people for the hell of it!

    Right……..
    The anti-piracy groups and the people that stand up for them are starting to look like Jurassic Jack-asses.

  • Pingback: Órgão anti-pirataria processado por piratear. | OxenTI

  • prodigydancer

    @81/Anonymous

    “The idea behind copyright is that if you as a creator have some guarantees of recouping your investment in your work”
    Which means it’s a guaranteed way to make money – for industries.
    Q.E.D.

    “art created solely for profit will lack the spirit”
    That’s an awfully mild choice of words. In fact, such it’s nothing less than disruptive. It undermines the very principles of creative culture, established thousands of years ago.

    “you’re leaving out a tremendous amount of “middling” content”
    I don’t care as long as it’s free as it should be.

    “I don’t think you should be able to tell others what they can and can’t do with what they create. If they want to make money off it, they can.”
    Of course. Which means they’re free to TRY. But without unfair protections (copyright). Just like everyone else in our cruel world.

    “Which is pretty much how copyright works now. Nobody is legally obligated to buy a creative work. If people like it, they buy it.”
    Of course. Now just let’s abolish copyright and people will still pay for what they like. Nothing will prevent them from doing so.

    “if you’re guaranteed to make money off it, it will suck?”
    Of course. If you’re guaranted to make money your production will ALWAYS suck. Because when business is guaranteed to make profit it has no motivation to make anything good.

    “It must therefore be true as well that if it’s nonprofit, it’s good.”
    Why so? You simply fail at logic. Just because some crappy artists provide their works for free, doesn’t mean that those who work for big enterprises create something better.

    “The point is that whether something is “crap” is a subjective thing that is best left to the individual to decide”
    That’s what I mean. Just abolish the unfair protections and let individual decide.

  • abolish copyright now

    @68

    if copyright was abolished then the internet would become a vast source of information for everyone to access and to use and to benefit from as it should be in a free society.

    the concept of copyright is a bad thing because copyright law restricts and controls information and entitles one to unjust legal damages for others distribution, copying or useage of information.

    copyright results in the enslavement of ideas and unleashes the forces of tyranny to enforce itself.

    Joel Tenebaum and Jammie Thomas are two individuals who were accused of piracy by the music industry,fought their way through court, and ultimately lost. both face substantial judgments of $675,000 and $1.92 million dollars each.

    most all computer users have infringed copyright. the punishment for copyright infringement is cruel and arbitrary for who is punished and the severity of the punishment.

    noone should accept a non-free society where information is restricted and controlled by copyright law. copyright is for repressive regimes.

    artists are everywhere and it’s a ubiquitous role in our culture now. you can’t stop them from creating, and the tools for being an artist and for widely distributing works are plentiful and empowering.

    copyright will become obsolete as more authors and artists make their
    information freely available on the internet as an advertisement for the sale of a packaging(physical object) or service(presentation or website or concert) which embodies the information. with millions of creative works being published
    every single day, modern musicians or authors should fear obscurity far more than piracy.

    the monopolists of information will not be able to compete with the free flow of information and will eventually fail.

    noone owns information so anyone including big content should be able to access and use all information and benefit from the free flow of information.

    the prevailing view in France, Professor Pollaud-Dulian said, remains that existing copyright law should not be overhauled simply because new customs and practices, however widespread, do not fit. modifications to existing copyright
    law are unlikely to occur. it is a much stronger argument that copyright is to be abolished because all information is for everyone to access and to use and to benefit from as it should be in a free society.

    treating noncommercial and commercial information usage differently is inconsistent and weakens the argument that all information is for everyone to
    access and to use and to benefit from in a free society.

  • Mr. Briggs

    If you don’t want to profit from what you create, good for you. Use copyleft or the public domain. But I don’t think you should be able to tell others what they can and can’t do with what they create. If they want to make money off it, they can.

    What we’re saying is, who should have more control over somebody’s purchased product – the buyer or the seller?

    The artist can do whatever they want with what they create – so long as it’s still in their possession, and it’s still their property.

    What the “pirates” are saying is, the artists, once they’ve sold their product, have no control over what happens after the product is sold. They got paid, they gave away their product, end of story. They shouldn’t have the right to magically take away the song from your audio device, is what the pirates are saying, and what the copyright holders are doing now (with a little sth. called DRM).

  • Pingback: HADOPI si muove, SIAE pensa alla rieducazione

  • alienjoe

    Hi, Here’s how to get yourself a free PS3, iPod, wii or even cash!. Just go to – urfreegifts.com It’s FREE and has been­ researched by the BBC to be absolutely genuine. Simply­ go to the site and select the gift you would like or­ cash if you prefer. For full info and proof its real­ just go to http://www.urfreegifts.com

  • The Dude

    Insanity.

    A bank here has copyrighted the color blue. At the bottom of every ad and bank statements it says

    “The xxx symbol and the color blue is a trademark of bank xxx”

    No kidding. It’s just crazy.

  • cliverozario

    The whole The Hadopi agency copyright thing is ridiculous, but fairly hilarious, this particular article about it made me laugh alot http://bit.ly/4OrDwu http://bit.ly/5Tev0u

  • Pingback: HADOPI si muove, SIAE pensa alla rieducazione « YBlog

  • tmc

    Isn’t it time for another episode of Torrentfreak.TV?

    So much news lately….

  • Chris

    I’m not really pro or anti piracy. But the attitude against copyright here is awful. Without copyright a guy writes a script shows it to a producer, the producers takes it to a photo copier and then tells the guy to piss off. So with copyright, the big company wins. With it, the small guy gets paid for his work (if it’s good enough). I do agree that people should be able to “try before you buy” eg listen to the music (listen to previews on iTunes) watch a movie. Because you don’t buy a painting you don’t like looking at. Why buy a film you don’t want to watch.

  • Pingback: Frankreich: Neue Copyrightschutzbehörde beim Raubkopieren ertappt « 11k2

  • prodigydancer

    @107/Chris

    “Without copyright a guy writes a script shows it to a producer, the producers takes it to a photo copier and then tells the guy to piss off.”
    Not true. Without copyright there’s no producer. There’s just a group of creative people who make movies and a scriptwriter is a natural part of it.

    “With it, the small guy gets paid for his work”
    O’rly?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%932008_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike

    Why, why are people so ignorant…

  • Pingback: [TorrentFreak] French 3 Strikes Group Unveils Copyright Infringing Logo - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

  • abolish copyright now

    @107

    the attitude against copyright is awful because copyright is awful.

    stop and think about all the lives that have been or could be damaged or destroyed due to copyright for sharing information and how society would benefit from the free flow of information if copyright was abolished.

    having the reputation for sueing people who infringe on your copyright by sharing information will make you very unpopular.

    society has a choice to make because copyright is a totally man-made and artificial and unfair law which harms society.

    in your small guy and producer example copyright is not needed. the best advice to protect the small guy against a producer fraudulently using the small guys
    work of authorship is for the small guy to be sure of the producers reputation. a good producer will not risk their reputation by fraudulently using the small guys work of authorship. also it is a whole lot more trouble to exclude the small guy rather than work with the small guy as needed during production.

  • Pingback: Links 14/1/2010: Many New Android Gadgets | Boycott Novell

  • Pingback: El logotipo de HADOPI infringe derechos de autor : Blogografia

  • Pingback: French Anti-Piracy Organisation Uses Pirated Font In Own Logo | The FontFeed

  • Pingback: Hadopi lanseres – og starter like greit med selv å bryte opphavsretten « FriBit

  • Pingback: El logotipo de HADOPI infringe derechos de autor | Noticortos.com

  • Anonymous

    @109

    So in the copyright-less world, what stops a record label from grabbing all the indie music it wants, selling it, and keeping all the profits?

    What stops Microsoft from taking code from free software projects and incorporating it into its own proprietary software?

    In short, what stops any large corporation, with its unrivaled power in the marketplace, from making money off the works of others without permission, attribution or compensation?

    These are honest questions. While I agree with most of what you say about copyright, I am not convinced that abolishing it entirely is the right thing to do. If someone can provide satisfactory answers to those questions, my mind might change.

  • Pingback: El logotipo de HADOPI infringe derechos de autor | Flix Web

  • John Down

    @109

    Q1 – It would be the competition. If one record company could do that, so could any other company or individual. This would result in competition and that has always worked in the peoples advantage rather than big corporates.

    Q2 – In the “ideal world” Microsoft’s software wouldn’t be proprietary any more AND / OR it would improve the software for the users advantage AND / OR other companies could do the same and create more competition. All to the peoples advantage.

    Q3 – It’s the copyright law that gives them the “unrivaled power” in the first place. Without their monopoly, they would have to be competitive, just as the rest of the world.

    Now, which side are you on?

  • Pingback: UR-VE.COM » Blog Archive » El logotipo de HADOPI infringe derechos de autor

  • Anonymous

    I hope this will wake up some people to understand how insane and ridiculous the current ultra-restrictive IP legislation really is. No matter what your creative field, it’s practically impossible to do anything without [inadvertently] infringing SOMETHING, because everything is owned by someone nowadays and that’s what is killing art.

  • Pingback: Flow » Blog Archive » Daily Digest for January 15th - The zeitgeist daily

  • Pingback: Licencia Creativa Tips,Tutoriales,Trucos,Capacitación,Diseño Web,Videojuegos

  • abolish copyright now

    @110 good questions
    @111 good answers

    please read “The Surprising History of Copyright and The Promise of a Post-Copyright World”
    and the rest of the website
    http://questioncopyright.org/promise

  • Pingback: Mr. Topp and the Big Bad Blog » Your weekly offloading of links

  • James Catanzaro

    Hahah, those french are soooooo funny.
    And their french fries taste VERY good, especially with french toast. Yumm.

  • Pingback: El logotipo de HADOPI infringe derechos de autor | RSS Tecnología

  • cando22

    Absolutely Hilarious…. I particularly like the “error of manipulation” quote..That’s what I’m gonna tell Comcast if they ever contact me re: illegal downloads…
    I’m sorry it was a manipulation error on my part…. CLASSIC……

  • a

    @98

    Artists need that crutch to survive, without copyright they would make very little money, as their intelectual proporty is now all public domain, and if people listened to a song, they might not even know who put so much hard work into creating the album.

    Copyright is important, I do not support the large record labels and that group taking all the musician’s money either. Thats why I believe that copyright laws need to be changed to support the musician and consumer, rather than just rich people.

    But, sadly, it seems that most people who are against the large record lables, are also anti-copyright, and believe that artists shouldn’t make any money from their work.

  • prodigydancer

    @116/a

    “Artists need that crutch to survive”

    Lies. Art (and artists) had existed for thousands of years before copyright was invented.

    “copyright laws need to be changed to support the musician and consumer”

    It’s obvious that you’re not a lawyer. Any kind of private property protecting legislation always supports rich people and large companies at the expense of everybody else. If today oxygen could be claimed as private property – in a week you’d have to pay for your right to breathe.

  • abolish copyright now

    if copyright was abolished then the internet would become a vast source of information for everyone to access and to use and to benefit from as it should be in a free society. society has decided that it will not be deprived of the free flow of information. this is called progress and you cannot stop it. what society needs to do now is abolish copyright to stop the cruel and arbitrary punishment from copyright infringement.

  • Pingback: learn conversational french.wmv

  • Pingback: Law Review: Measured judgement « Charon QC

  • ZT

    There’s a pretty big difference between accidently misreading a contract involving font use, which is fairly arcane, and intentionally pirating music and videos.

  • Digital

    Irony – it strikes at the best of times!

  • BTGuard - BitTorrent Anonymously

NewsBits

Even more news...

  • The Pirate Bay Isn’t Down Completely, Just Having a Few Issues

    Twitter and Facebook, not to mention the TorrentFreak inbox, are currently alive with complaints that The...

  • Pirate Bay Founder Gottfrid Svartholm on Freedom of Speech

    Freedom of speech is a highly valued commodity, but should people be allowed to say whatever...

  • Blu-ray Anti-Piracy Tech Stops Discs and Promotes Purchases

    An anti-piracy system present in all official Blu-ray players since 2012 has received a fresh update...

  • Foxtel Breeds Pirates by Locking Up Game of Thrones

    One of the main reasons why people turn to piracy is the lack of legal alternatives....

  • UK Student Admits Breaching Sony Copyrights With Leak of PS3 SDK

    Last year an Internet user known as El Nomeo leaked version 3.70 of Sony’s Playstation3 SDK...

MostDiscussed

Below are TorrentFreak's most discussed articles of the past month. Join the discussion if you like.

CopyQuote

Left Quote

“The Pirate Bay has been one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship.

Peter Sunde Left Quote

PopularArticles

A selection of some TorrentFreak's classics dug up from our archives.