That one famous anti-piracy PSA campaign may have used a pirated font

In 2004, we got the famous “You Wouldn’t Steal a Car” anti-piracy public service announcement urging the public not to illegally download files like movies and music. The campaign compared file-sharing to stealing handbags, televisions, and cars, and it frequently appeared before films in theaters and on commercial DVDs. Now, TorrentFreak points out that the font used in the ads may have been pirated.

Instead of using the original font called “FF Confidential,” which was designed by Just van Rossum in 1992 and requires licensing for commercial use, it appears that the anti-piracy campaign used a font called “XBAND Rough” instead. XBAND Rough is a free clone of FF Confidential, created by Catapult Entertainment in 1996.

How can you tell the difference? Well, one Fediverse user found the XBAND Rough font embedded in a PDF file that was hosted on the official campaign website. TorrentFreak confirmed that XBAND Rough is embedded in both an official brochure (PDF) and an official flyer (PDF). However, TorrentFreak cautions against drawing any direct conclusions, as it’s entirely possible that the campaign still used a licensed version.

“I knew my font was used for the campaign and that a pirated clone named XBAND Rough existed. I did not know that the campaign used XBAND Rough and not FF Confidential, though. So this fact is new to me, and I find it hilarious,” said Just van Rossum to TorrentFreak.

Van Rossum says he has no plans to follow up on the whole thing as he is no longer the font’s official distributor. The licensing of FF Confidential is currently handled by Monotype.