The ones who have control over the font licenses, on the other hand, could be the creators, but also the vendors of the fonts - such as type foundries like ourselves (or independent type designers) and resellers like MyFonts, FontSpring, FontShop, etc.
FONTBOOK LIMIT SOFTWARE
The people who have exclusive rights over a digital font are the sole creators of the software product.
FONTBOOK LIMIT LICENSE
When purchasing retail or downloading free fonts you become a licensee and are issued a license for a specific use. These need to be clearly defined in an official document that binds you and the owner of the digital font with a contract that is to be respected on both sides. So, when you buy a font you actually obtain permission to use it according to the conditions outlined in the specific font license. In a former sense, it means that:įont licensing is the act of granting permission to use a digital font in a specific way. The owner can therefore make the content available to others through licensing. Legally there can be only one owner and that is the owner of the typeface itself. Fonts are first and foremost a software product and as such are subjects of licensing. Digital objects on the other hand can’t work like this, as they are a piece of data (that any user could duplicate and share at any given time) with no physical medium attached. When fonts were still physical objects (movable-type used woodblock letters and metal ones later on) you couldn’t become the owner of the type design itself, but you could own the physical medium to which the design was tied to. Definition of font licensing Font files and font licenses Today, font licensing costs are based on quantitative parameters such as the number of users, the number of devices the font is going to be installed on, or the number of views a website gets. This principle is key when exploring the basics of font licensing. However, over the years font licenses slowly shifted and incorporated additional metrics and pricing models. The first licenses were specifically arranged to be used on a computer attached to output devices (printers and imagesetters) allowing only a small number of CPUs (central processing unit - picture it as the brain of your computer) and output devices. Picture a designer sitting behind a computer attached to output devices like printers and imagesetters. In the 1980s desktop publishing was invented and fonts became digital, which in turn made font licensing necessary, as every font was now a software product. Both physical fonts (used for more than 500 years) and 20th-century phototypesetting disks were limited to local use and one typesetter working with a font at any given time. Understanding font licensing requires a short travel back in time. In conclusion, typefaces are subject to copyright, whereas fonts are protected by software licenses depending on the use case.
FONTBOOK LIMIT PROFESSIONAL
In our 12 years of experience in the type world, at Fontfabric we witnessed how the question of legality around typefaces makes and breaks both professional and personal projects. From queries like “Can I use this typeface for my logo?” to “Can I modify the letterforms of a font?” the community points to a general head-scratcher that needs additional explanation. On a regular monthly basis, we answer hundreds of questions regarding licensing for free, off-the-shelf, and custom fonts. Type designers answer frequently asked questions Font licensing - let’s clear up the confusion Font licensing examples available out thereġ1. What is an End-User License Agreement (EULA)?Ĩ. How did font licensing become necessary?Ħ. Font licensing – let’s clear up the confusionģ.
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