How does font licensing work

The owner can therefore make the content available to others through licensing. In a former sense, it means that:. Font licensing is the act of granting permission to use a digital font in a specific way. So, when you buy a font you actually obtain permission to use it according to the conditions outlined in the specific font license.

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. When purchasing retail or downloading free fonts you become a licensee and are issued a license for a specific use. The people who have exclusive rights over a digital font are the sole creators of the software product. 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.

The majority of digital products users ourselves included have at one point or another skipped reading the terms and conditions when downloading or purchasing online. Keep in mind that when researching for a new font you should always be presented with a license agreement beforehand and read the document in detail before committing to your final decision. This agreement states all types of licenses offered, along with any rules and limits you and your client when working for hire are bound to follow.

A Standard User License is issued with individual font purchases on platforms and is most commonly predefined.

As it is issued for popular uses of fonts, the standard user license includes typical terms and conditions, fixed for individuals, small teams, and larger companies. Catering specific inquiries mostly by companies, the custom end-user licenses might include a higher number of users or an unlimited one , additional licenses for video, app creation, transferable rights, etc.

In a nutshell, there are two general types of usage — personal and commercial. Also known as private use, it would be something you develop independently and without direct commercial intent — your own website, a university project, or a DIY design of a poster for a birthday gift.

Typically, a desktop license covers just about anything you are willing to create on your computer. It can carry most personal projects in a breeze. Stay tuned! When it comes to commercial use, licensing includes all types of communication materials that you would use for business both internal and external and on behalf of your clients — logos, business cards, websites, banner ads, etc. What you plan to do with a font is the most relevant indicator of what licensing types you need to research.

A single font can undergo many practical use cases, so we organized real-life font licensing examples that may concern you as an End User into two categories:. Probably the most common option out there, this license covers most commercial font usage. The desktop license enables you to create graphical designs logos, print collateral, signs, etc. The final products may be sold for profit as long as the letters are not the main selling point of your product. Embedding fonts with a desktop license is limited in most cases with a few exceptions such as a.

Practically, it enables you to install a font on your computer and use it for a whole range of offline purposes. Keep in mind that the number of users allowed to install the font under the issued license should not be exceeded. One thing that is strictly illicit is to give the desktop-licensed fonts to your clients. If this is the case, they will need to purchase their own desktop license. When users access your website, their web browser will automatically download your embedded fonts temporarily for the session.

Specifying fonts for web copy is different from using fonts for desktop publishing or word processing applications, where any way to select a block of text and apply a font or style counts.

If you or your clients plan to create an accompanying app in addition to the website, the web font license excludes the use of fonts in the application software. Most commonly, these come on a per-app basis and costs may ramp up as the user base grows. The same goes for ePub formats — for example, digital books and digital magazines. Beware of the licensing conditions over here, as you may need to re-license a font if you update and release a new version of an ebook, or you may need to purchase a new license for each issue of the magazine you put out.

There also may be requirements regarding readership numbers and timescale, so read the agreement thoroughly before buying. It is most commonly used in print on-demand platforms, which enable customers to personalize white-label products like T-shirts, tote bags, etc.

This type of license may have a time limit and you may need to purchase a license for each CPU in your server package. A typical misconception is that you need a font license for digital ads when using static rasterized images for banner ads. Easily the most popular font licensing option out there, but also the trickiest. Many of the free fonts offered on the market lack the quality you get with fonts designed by a reputable foundry.

Always read the agreement before committing to a final choice and if such is not provided beforehand, better research other sources. All fonts included come with an Open Font License or OFL in short — a free software license that permits the fonts to be used, modified, and distributed freely. The font licensing isn't compatible with server installation. You will need to purchase the appropriate font license for any fonts that you want to install on your server from the font foundry directly or the foundry's authorized reseller.

The font licensing isn't compatible with InDesign Server. You will need to purchase the appropriate font license for any fonts that you want to use in InDesign Server from the font foundry directly or the foundry's authorized reseller.

Yes and no. Any file which embeds the font data, such as PDF or image formats, and any text that has been rasterized or outlined, will continue to display correctly. These types of files may be reproduced and distributed independent of your subscription status. Documents that reference fonts on your computer, such as an InDesign or Word document, will show a missing fonts warning and use a default font from the program in place of the one from Adobe Fonts.

You would need to purchase a new font license and install the fonts on your computer to continue to display and edit these files. Perpetual desktop licenses, as well as extended licensing, for Adobe-owned fonts are available from the following resellers:. Fontspring MyFonts or Fonts. You may contact one of our resellers if you require customizations or multi user licensing for Adobe Originals. Perpetual desktop font licenses and custom font licenses for third party fonts can be purchased from the font foundry's website or from the foundry's authorized reseller.

If your website is viewed in the browser—either on the desktop or on a mobile device—it's covered by the web font license. The web font license also requires that the fonts be added to your website by the embed code that we provide. The tutorial on adding fonts to your website shows how it works. The Terms of Use do not permit reselling beyond December 31, After that time, the client's website must load Adobe Fonts from their own Creative Cloud subscription to ensure that there isn't any interruption to the font licensing or web font hosting.

Please refer to the full Terms of Use for more information on what reselling the service means, and related definitions. The client needs to set up their Creative Cloud subscription before the web font project can be transferred. The full font library is included in most paid Creative Cloud subscriptions with a few exceptions.

The CSS embed code can be used to include custom fonts in banner advertisements. You may create custom designs for a client on a one-to-one basis, but may not offer customizing products with fonts through a website or other service.

This requires an appropriate license to be purchased directly from the foundry or from an authorized reseller. Adobe doesn't offer the ability to locally host fonts. Our web font hosting delivers fonts from a globally-distributed content delivery network CDN , which performs much better and is more scalable than using local hosting for static assets.

If you cancel your Creative Cloud subscription, the web fonts will no longer be available to your websites. Any site using the web fonts will display the fallback fonts specified in your font stack or your browser's defaults. There is no limitation on the number of monthly pageviews for web fonts hosted from your Creative Cloud subscription. Hence buying fonts implied moving around heavy boxes of metal.

Typography lost its mass and weight in the digital era to make way for the zeros and ones of binary code. Therefore, typography is now commodified like software or music files.

The actual design software of the font remains the property of the type designer. In letterpress a font is a physical object, in this case a set of Garamond Small Caps 11pt, that includes the most basic characters of the Latin alphabet.

The licence describes permissions and restrictions about how the font software may be installed and used. EULAs usually specify:. More than one licence option A font licence is no more or less complex than any other software license.

But since fonts can be used in a wide variety of situations, some of these require their own specifications. Temporary This is either a free or very inexpensive licence that allows designers and developers to test the fonts and show them to their customers before committing to a purchase.

It does not allow the fonts to be used on commercial work and it is sometimes given for a limited period of time. If you, the designer, are using a font from your own collection for a client, it is likely that you need multiple font licenses.

One for personal use, and one for the client. The simple answer is yes. When in doubt a designer should always assume that a license is necessary. And then check the specific license of the typeface you are using and for how you are using it. Following this routine is probably enough to keep you from encountering any font drama.

A desktop license is typically enough for anything you are doing on your computer that is not for a client. When it comes to working for someone else, the best option is to work with fonts that they client has licenses for.

Before using any font for a commercial project or use, make sure it is ok. Commercial projects often require extended licenses and even some of those font freebies require payment for use commercially. When doing a project for hire, or for a client or even yourself that will be used for monetary gain, make sure to read every single line of fine print first. Digital projects often require fonts that work in a number of environments, making use of a subscription font service particularly appealing.

This allows you to buy a plan of fonts that you can use in a number of projects for one price with all the proper licensing included. Google Fonts are another very popular option for digital projects. Now that you understand why you need font licenses, how can you obtain them? The most common ways include buying or downloading a typeface right from a type vendor, as a part of a large software package such as the fonts that come with the Adobe Suite , downloading a typeface from a designer or website or subscribing to an online type service.