You Wouldn’t Steal a Car… But Apparently You Would Steal a Font

Remember that overdramatic anti-piracy ad from the early 2000s that told us, in no uncertain terms, that downloading Shrek 2 is basically the same as breaking and entering? You know the one: "You wouldn't steal a car… You wouldn't steal a handbag…" etc., etc., cue dramatic techno and a montage of crime-doing?

Well. It turns out that the ad itself may have been—brace yourself—a little pirated.

Specifically, the font.

Yes, the font.

A recent investigation (a real one, not a Netflix limited series… yet) revealed that the iconic ad used a typeface called XBand Rough, which is allegedly an unlicensed knockoff of a legit font called FF Confidential, created by Just van Rossum in 1992. A user named Rib used FontForge on an old archived PDF of the ad and confirmed: XBand Rough is embedded, not FF Confidential. Oops.

Van Rossum himself says he knew about the ad and the clone font, but didn't realize the campaign actually used the pirated version. His response? "I find it hilarious." 

Same.

To be fair, in the U.S. you can't copyright typefaces (only font files), so this might not technically be illegal. But the irony? Chef's kiss.