Microsoft has been refused a trademark for the Windows Vista system font Segoe UI (pronounced "SEE-go"), which will render the user interfaces of Vista and Office 2007. Reason: trademark violation.

The Europe's trademark and design office has found the Segoe font to be very similar to Linotype's 'Frutiger Next' - a popular font in the IT business and is used a lot in various corporate brochures and marketing guff.

Read the complete report by European Union's Office of Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).

Brian has a more indepth character-by-character analysis of Frutiger Next and Segoe UI. His findings are that the two fonts are remarkably similar, differing in subtle ways that are apparent only when the fonts are blown up to enormous sizes.

This doesn't necessarily mean that Segoe can't be used in Vista and Office 12, however. Under the copyright laws of the U.S. and some other countries, the visual design of a typeface cannot be protected. Only the name of a font can be protected under separate trademark rules.

Download Linotype Frutiger Next