How to use web-fonts legally? [closed]

Question

I'm a bit confused about the laws applied to web fonts. I know that it's OK to use fonts like Arial, Times Romans, Georgia, etc...I think it's illegal to use other commercial fonts. Are there websites that provide free fonts? If there are.

Can I just use them directly without mentioning the creator of the free font or without linking the page where I download them? or I have to?

How can I use fonts on the web if I'm not allowed to redistribute them in digital form?

Lavellelaven

It's a legit question... many people would bother to ask and just use what they like... – Hanker

A very good question most people just don't ask. – Buffum

I'm designing a website (commercial). I want to use a free font for the website's name (beside the logo). – Galasyn

+1 for @Buffum Gaiser: Most of the time webmasters use the fonts without checking licenses. Comment well posted. – Lamarre

Thanks for the responses. God, this legal issue is really complicated. I think I'll just "draw" the fonts of my logo with Illustrator. – Galasyn

The webfonts wiki attempts to keep track of compatibly licensed fonts, though the list of free ones is quite short. – Steverson

Nah, as long as you're just using it in graphics, you should be fine with every real free, or purchased font. The real problems start when fonts are redistributed as such for display on a web page (as I said e.g. in SiFR). What you are looking to do is much easier. – Buffum

it's a shame this was "closed" as off topic. I'm glad it remains, however, with answers intact. I somewhat understand the reason, but it's a very good question and is indirectly related to programming as fonts are a big part of both web development and software development. – Gunnysack

yeah, it's a good question...... why not migrated if truly not programmy enough – Glazunov

Answer 1

Be careful with "free" fonts on the web. Many are just copies of protected fonts with their copyright notices removed.

If you want to make sure, buy a font from one of the large foundries like fonts.com or myfonts.com. Make sure you read their license. For example, if you buy a font, you are almost always free to use it in print products, on graphics on your web site, etc., but you are almost never allowed to re-distribute a digital version of the font, not even to display it on your web site using Tools like sIFR. If you want to make sure, and big things are at stake, make sure and contact the font vendor first.

There are genuine free fonts (they also come with a license but should be much more permissive than commercial fonts). Check out Ray Larabie's works for example, the Open Font library or the League of Movable Type.

Callus

"not even to display it on your web site using Tools like sIFR" - that's not accurate. Fonts can't be copyrighted, only their software. So if you use something like sIFR which doesn't use the software, you can use it on your site. You can redistribute the font design, but not the software. – Supportable

@user "Fonts can't be copyrighted" in the US, apparently, to some extent that seems to be true (that was news to me, thanks). It doesn't seem to hold true in the rest of the world, though, from what little Wikipedia has to say on the matter: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… I'm fairly sure that in the context of what we're talking about here, it's safe to say you should be careful before using a font with sIFR. – Buffum

None of the other countries mentioned in that link would be an issue with sIFR except maybe Switzerland where it says "in theory". The England bit says "not their actual use" which is what sIFR is. – Supportable

@user when you use a font with sIFR and don't rebuild it from scratch, you're using the vendor's software for a purpose that they didn't license it for. They are selling separate licenses for web use, and most licenses prohibit "redistribution" of their fonts. Seeing as sIFR converts the original font, I find it very likely that this falls under "redistribution". If you are 100% sure this is not the case, I'd be interested in some supporting material – Buffum

No vendor I'm aware of prohibits using their font on Flash. It's been done for many years, without issue. You can redistribute the font design without issue. You cannot redistribute the font software. sIFR does not contain any of the font software. Embedding fonts in PDFs is likely even more of an issue, as it usually does contain the software. Still, that's a non-issue. – Supportable

Adobe explicitly states that you can use Adobe fonts with sIFR and Cufon: adobe.com/type/browser/legal/pdfs/faq.html – Vespine

What Adobe says is not automatically true with all fonts. – Borgeson

Answer 2

You can use all fonts of Google Font API.

From the FAQ:

Can I use the Font API on any page?

Yes. All the fonts in the Google Font Directory are licensed under open source licenses that let you use them on any website, from a private blog to a big commercial site.

Avouch

if you use an Open Source font does your code become Open Source? – Adulteress

Answer 3

There are several issues here. Also, from your post it's not clear whether you intend to just reference the fonts in your app, package them with your app or display text in images that were produced with the fonts.

• It is legal to use a font that's already installed on the user's system. That's why there's no issue with Arial, Times, etc. You are not redistributing them with your app.

• When you redistribute a font with your app then you have to worry about licensing. Read the license carefully.

• There are free fonts. These are available in various places under various free licenses. A little Googling turns up various pages with promising-looking free fonts.

You might look at the free fonts distributed with XFree86. They aren't as high-quality as the commercial fonts, though.

Hermaphroditism

Answer 4

That depends on how you use the font.

If you specify a font name in CSS, you can specify any font you like:

style="font-family:Some Commercial Font That You Do Not Own, Arial, sans-serif;"

If the visitor owns the font and has it installed, it will be used, otherwise the next fallback font (in this case Arial) will be used instead. As it's the visitor that has to own the font to see it displayed, you don't have to own the font just to put it's name in the code.

If you offer the font as download, naturally you need the permission of the creator unless the font is free distribute. If you embed the font you need to own it, but as it's not a download you don't need special permission to display it.

If you use the font in images that you display on your page, you need to own the font to create the images, but normally the images are then owned by you.

Ashcan

This is not what he asked. He's asking about the license of fonts, not about how to do stuff like this. -1. – Lamarre

@YourComputerHelpZ, Guffa specified the several cases where one might wish to use a "commercial" font and what the rules are in each case. Since the OP asked "Can I just use them directly without mentioning the creator of the free font or without linking the page where I download them? or I have to?", the answer is both cogent and detailed. – Gannet

Sorry to bother you after 3 years. I fall in the last case. I am generating images dynamically. Is it legal to do this by using system font. I'd be using dejavuSans in my Debian box. – Arva

@shiplu.mokadd.im: That's a tricky question... I would say that it's ok if the image contains something else, for example writing a caption on a photo, but it might not be ok if the image only consists of text, i.e. you are trying to circumvent the need for the visitor to purchase the font by rendering it on the server. – Ashcan

Answer 5

Actually, it is illegal to use fonts like Arial, Times Romans, Georgia as web fonts. You can reference them, but including them as web fonts with @font-face is illegal without a license.

Most fonts with an open source license are legal to use.

IANAL and this is not legal advice.

Irresistible

Answer 6

You might be interested in new services such as fontsquirrel or typekit that allow you to pay a recurring fee in exchange for access to a database of commercial fonts that are fully licensed and legal.

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/

http://typekit.com/

Dire

Answer 7

I believe most "free" fonts will come with a license file, describing exactly how you can use them.

Deficiency

Answer 8

All fonts come with a license (of some sort), or a statement specifying the terms of use. This license dictates the terms under which you can use the fonts. To remain legal, just follow the terms of the license. If the license specifies that you have to mention the creator, then you do. If the license specifies that you have to pay for the fonts, then you do.

Ferebee

Answer 9

It's not something you could possibly answer; if everything's good the font should include a license file, containing information about how you can distrubute it.

If there are no license files in the font package; don't use it. Often it's a illegal copy of some other font. Listen to what i say; 'often'.

Do a search on Google before you ask where to get this free fonts. Most of the time, the top results will display legit websites. 'Most of the time'; remember. Always check if there's a license file.

Sometimes the license is included in the website. Make sure to check that one.

Lamarre

Answer 10

It is not a commercial/free issue only. You have other things to take in account. Some font licenses allows embedding (in a document, for example) while others don't. AINAL but I think some commercial fonts allowing embedding might prohibit a person holding a document to reuse the distributed font.

Note that most fonts (at least the commercial ones) have license metadata: you can see it with an hex editor, or some appropriate reader. I used to install a Microsoft shell extension adding font information tab(s) to the properties of the file. A useful tool.

Jacie

Answer 11

Buy the font legally with a license that lets you use them in your project.

Anticathexis