Re: Copyright for font files.

[Thomas Esser <te@dbs.uni-hannover.de>]

> cmex10.pbf:
> Copyright (C) 1997 American Mathematical Society.  All Rights Reserved.

This does not reflect the license of these fonts at all. Look at CTAN:fonts/cm/ps-type1/bluesky/README:

  The PostScript Type 1 implementation of the Computer Modern fonts produced by
  and previously distributed by Blue Sky Research and Y&Y, Inc. are now freely
  available for general use.
  ...
  In order to assure the authenticity of these fonts, copyright will be held
  by the American Mathematical Society. This is not meant to restrict in any
  way the legitimate use of the fonts, such as (but not limited to) electronic
  distribution of documents containing these fonts, inclusion of these fonts
  into other public domain or commercial font collections or computer
  applications, use of the outline data to create derivative fonts and/or
  faces, etc. However, the AMS does require that the AMS copyright notice be
  removed from any derivative versions of the fonts which have been altered in
  any way. In addition, to ensure the fidelity of TeX documents using Computer
  Modern fonts, Professor Donald Knuth, creator of the Computer Modern faces,
  has requested that any alterations which yield different font metrics be
  given a different name.
  ...
  Problems with this distribution should be reported to tech-support@ams.org.

> cmex10.mf

I don't have a reference in my hands, but afair, Knuth requires that
changed font files are given a different name. I know that this gives
you less freedom than the new (yet to be released) lppl. If you think
that this is a problem for debian, all I can suggest to you is to write
a written letter (not email) to Don Knuth.

Thomas