Author: Richard A. Fowell (fowell@netcom.com)
Date: 12:13:18 01/08/00
The pieces currently being used by the EPD -> HTML generator are anti-aliased bitmaps produced from the commercial Alpine chess font, Linares. You can compare them yourself - the Linares home page is: http://www.partae.com/fonts/linares/linares.html (Alpine Electronics Home page: http://www.partae.com/main.html) Since the purpose of buying fonts is publication, and the CCC board is arguably a publication, I think that the CCC will be legally and ethically in the clear as long as Your Move Chess & Games has purchased this font (it's about $30 by itself). Personally, I thought it was worth the money - I paid the $59 to get all three Alpine fonts, just for my personal use to plug into chess software I use to replace the stock sets. If Your Move Chess & Games don't want to do this, I'd suggest they switch - there are numerous piece sets available whose authors ask only credit for use, and I've provided links below. However, I'd personally urge Your Move Chess and Games to buy the font (and perhaps they already have) - it is a great font (the best I've seen, IMHO, and I've looked at dozens of chess fonts), and useful for all sorts of chess printout, etc. (I wish I could convince the L.A. Times to use it, but at least I got them to use something close). [Note - I'm no lawyer, and purchase of the font may not be legally required for the current use, but the cost of the font is less than a lawyer's consultation fee. And ethically, if I like a product so much that I'm not willing to settle for a free alternative, I think I should be willing to pay for it.] Note that the author of Linares, Steve Smith (with who I corresponded a few times) died in a tragic accident recently, and his widow and orphan are being supported in part by the sales of his fonts. For those looking for non-commercial pieces for HTML or chess software, you are welcome to use my "American" set at no charge, as long as you credit me in the documentation somewhere and let me know about it - my pieces are included in MacChess, and are on the web at http://members.aol.com/Macchess/american.html in the antialiased 48x48 pixel size, and http://members.aol.com/Macchess/fivesets.html for the non-antialiased 32x32 pixel size. If your product then makes you richer then Bill Gates, more power to you - I'm not asking for a penny for it, just credit. I hope to get around to posting them as individual piece GIFs, but I have to go into work this weekend, so it won't be real soon. A plethora of chess fonts which are free for personal, non-commercial use are at the superb Norresundby fonts site: http://www.enpassant.dk/chess/fonteng.htm I like Chess Alpha (http://www.enpassant.dk/chess/fontimg/alpha.htm) the best of these. The author, Eric Bentzen - norresundby@enpassant.dk has told me in the past that it can be used freely in freeware software (with appropriate credit, contact info, and notification), but that he wants money for any profit-making use. Anyone wanting to use it for other than private, non-commercial use, should probably discuss the specific application directly with Eric. The "Chess Cases" font, by Armando H. Marroquin: http://www.enpassant.dk/chess/fontimg/cases.htm is good for those looking for a European font (like the commercial Alpine "Zurich" font: http://www.partae.com/fonts/zurich/zurich.html the "Chess Leipzig" font, by Armando H. Marroquin: http://www.enpassant.dk/chess/fontimg/leipzig.htm is good for those looking for a traditional 1920 font (like the commercial Alpine "Hastings" font). http://www.partae.com/fonts/hastings/hastings.html Those of you who view Cases/Zurich and Leipzig/Hastings side by side will note the striking resemblance. Apparently, in the print font industry, it is perfectly accepted and common practice to make a "clone" of a competitors font, as long as you draw it yourself, it is noticably (albeit slightly) distinguishable, and you call it something else. The Alpine fonts were themselves "inspired" by print fonts. When I started working on my piece set, I started looking more closely at print chess diagrams, and noticed for the first time that the pieces in "Thinker's Press" books, Reinfeld books, and Chess Life were actually different. They are close enough that I'd always thought them identical. Richard A. Fowell (fowell@netcom.com) http://dmoz.org/Games/Board_Games/Chess/Software/Macintosh/
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