The Annoyance Of Proprietary Licenses

So, I was going to post my Ireland pages up on web site for the world to consume, but I hit a snag....

The font I used on the pages, I absolutely loved. It really made the pages for me. Problem is, it's not a free font, with a free license. Which means I can't embed it in my PDFs.

I'm currently weighing my options to see what I can do.

This is part of the problem with proprietary licenses. You do a bunch of hard work, and someone still gets to say what you can with it.

Sigh...

Andy, I am pretty sure you are free to use it for your own pages?

Peter

I am free to use it on my pages. But I can't my pages and post them on the Internet for the world to use, the way I do with all my other work. It seems I may have to do pags for myself and then pages for everyone else.

Hi apastuszak,

I do sympathise, but someone did some hard work designing the typeface you want to use and their work is protected by copyright legislation. A friend of mine designed a typeface way back in 1966 when we were both on our first studio job and he is still earning from it. I do a google trawl occasionally for free typefaces and can usually find nice free ones. What is it you wanted to use? I might be able to suggest an alternative.

Terry

Here's a good site for OTF files...

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/

Useful link KirkS, I use their 'Architect's Daughter' for comic speech balloons. It has a nice, hand drawn look.

Terry

You need to check the License Agreement for the Font. They vary from designer to designer. Are you planing to sell the pages or give them away for free? Yes, that may make a difference. Furthermore the Typeface of the font is not patentable as such. It is the program that is patented as software that is. So a close design way be out there. Also be aware that many "Freeware" fonts are only free when NOT used in a commercial enterprise.
If you need a Patent Atty. to evaluate the license, PM me and I will set you up. Cost should be very minimal.

You are right revstampman, in the US it is the software delivery system, or font, not the typeface that is copyright protected. Confusion arises about this mainly because the word font is often taken to mean typeface, which strictly speaking it does not. The legal situation is different in the UK, and I believe in Germany, where a typeface design is considered to be a creative work and is protected by copyright. It seems all very complicated and a bit of a minefield for the unwary.

Terry

I fully understand that font designer needs to be compensated for his work. My issue is how they license them.

So, I bought the font. I use it on my PC and makes stamp pages. I then want to give those pages away as PDFs. Well, that requires a seprate ePub license for that file. Once that file is licensed, I can use it for unlimited downloads FOR THAT ONE DOCUMENT ONLY. I release another file, then I need to buy another ePub license for the next file.

If I want to use the font I just bought on my web page, I need to buy a web font license. And the web font license is licensed in PAGE VIEWS. So, if you have a very popular site, you'll get an email letting you know when you are close to hiting your page view quota, and you can buy more page views.

If you're writing a mobile app that will use the font, you need to buy a mobile app license. The mobile app license DOES NOT include updates to the font. New version comes out that fixes some glyphs or adds support for, say, cyrillic. You need to get a new mobile app license.

I just want to buy the font and use it any way I want.

Can you imaging if you bough a hammer and it camed with an End User License Agreement that told you can only use the hammer for 2,000 nails. After that, you had to buy a new hammer. Or if it told you can't take it to job sites outside of your house without buying some kind of transport permit? And any furtiture you build with the hammer needs to be tracked, and Stanley Tools paid $1-$2 per piece of furniture made?

When I get an open source font, or something freeware, I send the guy a donation through his/her donate button and do whatever the hell I want with the file without guilt.

Hi apastuszak-

What font are you looking to use? You now have many open source options, including those on Google fonts: https://www.google.com/fonts

There's possibly a font very similar there.

Hi apastuszak,

I agree, That does seem unreasonable. I thought as you do that you buy the font software for all time use. That is how I understand buying the rights to use a typeface operated historically. It would have been unreasonable to expect printers and publishers to pay for a new licence every single time they used the typeface they had 'bought'.

Terry

@apastuszak... Why don't you simply convert the contents of Your PDF as image/graphics? That way the fonts won't be embedded... The downside is naturally that the PDF contents will become non-editable.

-k-

If I download a typeface font into my iMac font book, whose operating system manages and displays the typeface? Apple's, or the font seller's system?

Terry

The Mac does. When you buy a font, you can use it indefinitely on that computer, and even produce and sell printed works without restrictions. It's the digital work you produce that will ding you for additional licenses. So, I can print a book out and sell a printed copy without paying a dime. If I turn around and make an ePub or PDF and I choose to embed the font (which you kind of have to do in the digital world), then they require additional licensing.

Thanks apastuszak, that makes the problem a lot clearer. So if on my iMac I compose a set of pages, say of Newfoundland, and email the data to a commercial printer to print up x number of album sets for me to sell; are the font licensers going to come for me because of the digital transmission?

Terry

They should not. But if you want to make the PDF available to other people, then a license will be needed.