Hey, I was looking for some fonts earlier, and I noticed this font named "Paul David" on a website named "opti.netii.net", the font seems almost identical to papyrus, although with a different name, is it an illegal download, or is it just a similar copy (Like Optimus Princeps to Trajan and Grease to Cooper Black)?
The site seems to be down as of now, but here's a link to an archived copy:

[link removed]

Thanks for any help :P

The link was removed but no answer? Someone help meh

Not me who removed it, but I will answer you...

The pairs you named are similar / based on (one on each other), but when two fonts are identical or almost identical, it's not fair keeping the link of the copy if exists the commercial version, that harms the industry...

Not to mention the poor quality of these fonts.

It's quite common on DeviantArt to find well known fonts retitled to match with an easily recognizable commercial use. For example, the font Onyx,



renamed Nirvana, because it was used on the Nevermind CD.

It was some sort of answer, nothing illegal stays up here.

What is legal : people making a font from scratch, based on an old design.

What is illegal : people opening an existing font in a font software, renaming it, saving it, claiming it as an original work.

The difference may not be obvious to everyone, but you really need to be able to know the difference.

Castcraft aka OPTIFonts - now extinct - did exactly that; they, as many well respected digital type foundries, digitized old letter designs. They never cloned/renamed an existing one. Just take a closer look at their OPTIPaulDavid and one of the many Papyrus versions and lookalikes around (start with the Type1 versions). On first glance they seem to be the same but in reality they are completely different.
In spite of all the discussions there and there, there was nothing illegal about it. Yes, the quality of their fonts isn't always the best but that can be said of many fonts. Even commercial ones.

And that site, PokemonBlue, is still live.

PeachExquisit is a version Poppl Exquisit (film). Too well made for Opti.

When I look at the type1 versions of the PeachExquisiteOpti and PopplExquisitBQ (the Type1 versions as all ttf's and otf's are based on those) I dare say that the PeachExquisiteOpti is so different from the PopplExquisitBQ that we can not possibly say that the PeachExquisiteOpti is a deriviate of the PopplExquisitBQ.
But, you are right, the PeachExquisiteOpti is well made, so with which version of the PopplExquisitBQ should I compare?

Poppl Exquisist
Script and Cursive Alphabets: 100 Complete Fonts (1987),Dan X. Solo, Dover, p. 69

http://cjoint.com/13ju/CGrvyPLl7c4_what1.png

What is the name Dan X Solo gave to his digitalization?

Edit kk
Your link only shows an image. It is impossible to compare two fonts only on the base of an image.

Compare the letters L,M,N,S,Z,p,q,s,v,w.

I can only compare the font files to see whether one font is a copy of another. An image, and certainly at this small size doesn't tell a thing.

For the fun of it I ran a match on those L,M,N,S,Z,p,q,s,v and w. The only ones around that matches all these letter shapes are the PeachExquisiteOpti and the Popular Script (Paratype and SoftUnion). But again, the nodes in each and every glyph are on different positions. And not just one or two em integers, no on completely different positions.

So, may we conclude that Castcraft made its own digital versions? Yes we may. And is that legal? Yes. At least in the USA.

Poppl Exquisite (Mecanorma) & Poppl Exquisite Alt (Mecanorma)

Claude, have you compared the font files? Do so and then come back as I'd like to see what I am missing

Sorry, my hard drive is kaputt .

@ Claude
The black is from your image. The red is what it says. Now, which PopplExquisit version did Castcraft copy and rename?

My brother has it on his laptop should he delete it or not?

Personally I don't think there is a need for that. Although a lot has been said about Castcraft, the company has never been taken to court and has not been forced in any way to terminate the business. It went out of business after the owner died. What is happening, is that on the site you mentioned a group of people are trying to complete the Castcraft collection. This has been going on for years and no-one has ever complained. The same is happening with the Dan-X-Solo fonts. Also reincarnations of older existing types. Strange thing is, everybody praised him for that.