Nick ShermanOct 16

Some interesting backstory on @atypi’s “Moral Code”, part of @johndberry’s ongoing ATypI research:
https://johndberry.com/atypi-history/le-code-moral/

It isn’t mentioned there but the Moral Code was how Bitstream justified their practice in the 1980s of making digital copies of other companies’ typefaces. At the time, the Code basically said you must apply for a license to adapt a typeface from another company, but if you are denied it’s moral to do it anyway when the typeface is 15 years old.

Those were different times.

Le Code Moral | John D. Berry

Show threadTiro TypeworksOct 16

@nicksherman @atypi @johndberry

Some missing context on the decision to ditch the Code Morale in 2004:

Cynthia Batty had been working on getting ATypI official non-profit status in the US, and I had been working on the possibilty of ATypI evolving into a standards organisation that could coordinate industry involvement in font formats, character encoding, and Web standards. The Code Morale was identified as problematic for these initiatives because it made ATypI look like a cartel.

Show threadTiro TypeworksOct 16

@nicksherman @atypi @johndberry

The biggest push to review and reform the ATypI statutes came from Adobe’s legal department. Someone I had been talking with at Adobe suggested that maybe the association might become responsible for the OpenType format specification, so ran the idea past their lawyers. The lawyers looked over the ATypI statutes and said ‘This is a cartel; we can’t have anything to do with it.’

Show threadNick ShermanOct 16
@TiroTypeworks @atypi @johndberry Interesting! Do you think it was a good decision to drop the Code even though ATypI never really became that kind of standards organization in the end anyway?
Show threadTiro TypeworksOct 16

@nicksherman @atypi @johndberry

I think dropping the Code, as it was, was necessary and a good thing. It was really an artifact of an earlier industrial model of organisation, and didn’t make much sense in the context of hundreds of small independent foundries. ATypI didn’t evolve into a standards organisation, but it did evolve, away from a business/professional organisation and more towards an academic/research conference organiser.

Show threadTiro Typeworks

@nicksherman @atypi @johndberry

I’ve spoken with some people who think the Code should not have been simply dropped but replaced by some kind of code of professional conduct.

The problem I always had with the idea of ATypI as a ‘professional association’ is that no one could tell me what the profession was. People who designed typefaces? People who manufactured fonts? People who sold fonts? People who used fonts? They were all represented in the ATypI membership, along with non-professionals.

Oct 16 at 10:53pmWeb
Show threadTiro TypeworksOct 16

@nicksherman @atypi @johndberry

ATypI does have a code of conduct now, but it is focused on behaviour at ATypI events and general respect for other people.

https://atypi.org/about-atypi/rules-regulations/code-of-conduct/

It says nothing about specific professional conduct relating to the type business, e.g. copying typeface designs, unlicensed font use, etc. So far as I know, this code of conduct is not part of the association statutes, in the way the old Code was.

Code of conduct - ATypI

ATypI