You wouldn't steal a... font: Famous anti-piracy campaign from the early 2000s 'uses pirated typeface'

Daily Mail​

29-04-2025

An iconic anti-piracy advert has come under fire after it was reported that the font used in the campaign was in fact pirated itself.
The hyperbolic advert was almost unavoidable during the early 2000s, appearing on DVDs and video cassettes as well as in cinemas.
The crime-thriller style video flashes up with sentiments of 'You wouldn't steal a car, you wouldn't steal a handbag' alongside a backdrop of thumping music.
It follows with the warning 'Piracy. It's a crime ', designed to strike fear into viewers, giving them second thoughts about burning a copy of the data onto their own disk or tape.
However in an incredible twist fit for the movies themselves, social media users have discovered that the font itself was pirated from Just Van Rossum, a Dutch typeface designer.
Van Rossum created his FF Confidential font in 1992. It was then illegally cloned and released as the font XBand-Rough, The Times reported.
While this font was free, companies were charged for the use of Rossum's original creation.
A Bluesky user ran an image from the 'You wouldn't steal a car' campaign through an online software which detects the exact font used.
The user discovered that the pirated XBand-Rough was used instead of Rossum's original creation.
The creators of the ad campaign are unlikely to have been aware of their font being pirated as it was not common knowledge that the XBand-Rough font was an illegal copy.
It is also possible the adverts paid for and used the licensed version of the font.
The font's original creator Just Van Rossum told tech news website TorrentFreak that he found the news 'hilarious'.
He told the site he was unsure if his font was licensed or whether the cloned version was used for the campaign.
He said: '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.'
In the past, reports claimed the music used for the iconic warning was pirated. However these were proven to be false.
The advert was discontinued in 2009, five years after its debut. But has lived on in collections for many years since.
The clips were replaced with adverts promoting British cinema and thanking viewers for supporting films.
MailOnline contacted the organisations behind the adverts, the UK's anti-piracy agency FACT, America's Motion Picture Association and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.