Many of you are interested in issues surrounding open font licensing, so you may be interested in how the SIL Open Font License can be used in a web fonts world. There are some difficult issues, but after months of discussion with various industry representatives, we've come to some conclusions.

Nicolas Spalinger and I, the maintainers of the SIL Open Font License, have posted a draft of an update to the OFL-FAQ (1.1-update3-draft). Although there are many small clarifications and refinements from version 1.1-update2, the main addition is a greatly expanded section related to web fonts. There is also a related discussion paper on Web Fonts and Reserved Font Names that deals with those issues in even more detail. Comments and feedback are welcome.

Hello Typohphiles,
I am pretty new as a contributor to the font world and was hoping some more experienced members could point me in the right direction. I recently released a font which has gleaned a lot of attention and now a major US broadcaster is requesting to license it for use as a logo for a television show, for US audience only, for one season for now.

I really have no idea how I should be calculating licensing fees for something like this, or what is appropriate. I neither want to overcharge nor undersell myself on this. The only point of reference I have found is the broadcast license calculator on Typoteque, which feels high to me, but at the same time I am sure the broadcaster is dealing with huge budgets.

Hi, i'm new here...
My question is:
If I download a free font today with its proper license, will this license allow me to use it for indefinitely time or could the license change in some time without giving me a notice. Note that i´m talking about licenses with no warning about changes in the future. Thanks...

Please direct me to the appropriate thread if this topic already exists.

I was contacted by a company that wants to license my typeface for distribution in their software package. The typeface is currently available for free and has a very limited character support (caps only and no diacritics, but that doesn't seem to concern them).

How do I price something like this? What follow-up questions might I ask?

Hi, I'm working on the identity system of my academy and I'm facing the fact that we cannot design a typeface on our own by the deadline (which is near as hell, by the way).

What are the legal aspects of using a shareware font?

Up to now I've choosen Dante and I'm trying to find a respectable sans-serif companion for it.

But I don't know what should we do, if the identity system is accepted, to legally use Dante and the sans-serif companion (think of renowned names like Univers, Frutiger etc.).

We'll have to buy the license and goodbye? Or there's something more complex behind?

thanks in advance for all the replies!
a.

Hello all,

As a software developer I use fonts primarily as "graphical embellishments" to my interface. The fonts are not embedded as "fonts", they are integrated into the visual aspect of my designs.

I have fonts that are commercial use fonts, providing the standard "...for Personal or Internal Use..." statement, however it leaves out the real "clarity". As I am using these fonts "in house" on my own computer when developing my software I assume my usage is covered under the standard "Commercial" EULA, but if anyone can shed some light and help to clarify the murky waters I'd appreciate it.

Tim

Can the word rockwell be used as a name of a new space in conjunction with the use of the font?

I am setting up a new building that provides rented studio space to small creative businesses in London. We decided we wanted to call it Rockwell House. We've have used the Rockwell font for the logo and website.

Is there an issue with us using this? What are the parameters we should be aware of? Please can someone give me some advice on using this.

Thanks

A company selling customizable products has an interactive site where a customer would select the colors/designs and add custom text (with multiple fonts to choose from) to the product. Think something along the lines of what Converse has going on here where they are offering customized text with the choices of Arial and Monotype Corsiva.

The question I have is, what kind of font licensing needs to be in place for a company to use fonts in this manner? I'm speaking more in the viewpoint of the company who is in the process of selecting fonts for this purpose.

By my count there are now three Hebrew fonts that are licensed with open source licenses:

• The SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) Ezra SIL font
• David Perry's Cardo (using SIL's Open Font License version 1.1)
• and the Culmus Project's Ancient Semitic Scripts family of fonts including Keter YG (using GPL v2 with the font exception clause).

Hey guys,

I've just been scanning through the licenses for several fonts I own, specifically the Helvetica Neue & Trade Gothic families. Admittedly, I get easily confused by reading legal-speak, but it almost sounds as though the license doesn't allow me to use the font commercially - i.e. in design work that I am paid for... surely this isn't the case...

This bit in particular is confusing:

"Personal or Internal Business Use" shall mean Use of the Font Software for your customary personal or internal business purposes and shall not mean any distribution whatsoever of the Font Software or any component or Derivative Work thereof...

Elk Grove Village, IL – June 9, 2010 - Ascender Corp is pleased to announce that the award-winning fonts from TypeTogether are now available for licensing from Ascender. The TypeTogether font collection features a range of text and headline typefaces designed for the professional design and publishing market. Ascender is making the fonts available for end users to download from its www.AscenderFonts.com website, and also for licensing to its software developer and hardware manufacture customers for including in products.

When can I copy and sell an expired Typographer's or a current Foundry's type collection if it goes out of business? I am actually being serious when I ask this with sarcasm infused.

I have noticed that roughly in the last 10 years that with the evolution of the internet and software programs, that so many past font specimens have been converted into "updated" versions of typefaces. I realize from previous threads and the comments provided that this takes skill and is really some sort of talent to pull off effectively. That is nice.