Matthew Butterick:
But more importantly, in practical terms — what would be the
point? Since 2011, I’ve run a small font business. Not long
after I release a font, it will be uploaded to some public
pirate-software website. I can’t control that. Like every other
kind of digital-media file, anyone who wants to pirate my fonts
can do so if sufficiently motivated.For that reason — and independent of copyright law — my business
necessarily runs on something more akin to the honor system. I try
to make nice fonts, price my licenses fairly, and thereby make
internet strangers enthusiastic about sending me money rather than
going to pirate websites. Enough of them do. My business
continues. (Indeed, in terms of rational economic choice, I’ve
argued that software piracy doesn’t exist.)
