Fonts = Personal vs. Commercial Use?

[Roger the Grey]

Greetings,

Thank you for putting together these packages of affordable fonts for commercial use. I've already invested in some of them so I could do some public graphics (e.g. birthday greetings, etc.) without worrying about lawsuits since I was warned I could be sued by Microsoft if I used their fonts for doing the same thing.

I noticed in some other posts and in some font descriptions that some fonts can be used in "design and print" and "PDF," while others also include web fonts, and none can be used in EPUB.

I have a couple of questions.

1) Can these fonts be used in personal and/or commercial videos?

2) What is the difference between personal and commercial use?
For example,

a) If I were to make a poster or a short video announcement about an upcoming event at the church I attend (e.g. celebrating a wedding anniversary after the service on a certain date), would that be considered personal or commercial? I'm not getting paid for it. I just volunteer to make a simple message to inform (a small group of) people of something that's coming up using your epic fonts.

b) If I were to design a logo with your fonts, would that be considered personal or commercial use?


Thank you for taking the time to clarify!


Roger

[SuperTech]

Thank you for posting your queries. Yes, you can use fonts in videos.

You can also use fonts in logos, as long as you do not embed the font and do not claim ownership of the font in relation to the logo.

[Reziac]

Greetings,

Thank you for putting together these packages of affordable fonts for commercial use. I've already invested in some of them so I could do some public graphics (e.g. birthday greetings, etc.) without worrying about lawsuits since I was warned I could be sued by Microsoft if I used their fonts for doing the same thing.

This is incorrect. Any font that comes with a full version of Windows or Microsoft Office (or for that matter, WordPerfect Office) is licensed for commercial use. You can do anything you want with those fonts, except redistribute them (including embed them, though that becomes blurry with a normal use of fonts within PDFs and even Word documents) or claim them as your own work (because the identity and specific implementation of the font is copyrighted. And you can't modify the font, but you can recreate it from scratch and name it something else, which is why there are dozens that look almost-alike but have different names.)

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typog ... s/font-faq

However, I came here with a similar question, since the Softmaker license is unclear.

Generally fonts fall under one of three licenses:

1) Personal use only (generally meaning you can use it only for stuff YOU use and do NOT distribute)
2) Non-commercial use (no making money with a product that uses the font, but you can use it in projects that are distributed for free)
3) Commercial use (meaning you can use it for absolutely anything, and sell the product so produced, with the same exceptions as Microsoft's font license).

The problem is that Softmaker's license blurs the distinction between USE of the font, and INSTALLATION of the font. I have never seen this anywhere else, and I've collected fonts for over 30 years.

Normally there is no restriction about where the font can be installed (nor how many times, since TTFs are portable and an install restriction is frankly unenforceable anyway -- note that even Microsoft's license does not restrict this so long as you have the root license), only on how it's used.

I think Softmaker needs to clarify their license, or bring it in line with what has been industry standard for a very long time. I no longer do any print work but if I did, as it stands I'd be a little uncomfortable with it. (That's why I wandered in here, I read it and went ...what??)

[Woody44]

Greetings,

Thank you for putting together these packages of affordable fonts for commercial use. I've already invested in some of them so I could do some public graphics (e.g. birthday greetings, etc.) without worrying about lawsuits since I was warned I could be sued by Microsoft if I used their fonts for doing the same thing.

This is incorrect. Any font that comes with a full version of Windows or Microsoft Office (or for that matter, WordPerfect Office) is licensed for commercial use. You can do anything you want with those fonts, except redistribute them (including embed them, though that becomes blurry with a normal use of fonts within PDFs and even Word documents) or claim them as your own work (because the identity and specific implementation of the font is copyrighted. And you can't modify the font, but you can recreate it from scratch and name it something else, which is why there are dozens that look almost-alike but have different names.)

This is also incorrect. Fonts bundled with Windows Home and/or with Microsoft Office Home & Student are licensed only for personal (non-commercial) use. Fonts bundled with Windows Professional, Office Home & Busness, and Office Professional Plus are licnsed for commercial use.

It's all a bit silly, since they are the same fonts and I don't think there's any way for anyone to know whether a file was created using a Home or a Professional version of Windows or Office, but technically Microsoft does make that distinction in their licensing agreements.

From the link you provided:

What can I do with the things that I print from Windows using these fonts?

Unless you are using an application that is specifically licensed for home, student, or non-commercial use, we do not place any restrictions on what you do with print output that uses these fonts.

Can I sell things I print from Windows or make using these printouts, say a book, logo, advertisement, report, t-shirt, or crafts that use fonts that come with Windows?

Unless you are using an application that is specifically licensed for home, student, or non-commercial use, we do not restrict you from selling the things you print and make using the Windows-supplied fonts.

Can I make a company logo using the fonts?

Unless you are using an application that is specifically licensed for home, student, or non-commercial use, we do not restrict you from making logos using the Windows-supplied fonts.

[Michael Uplawski]

It's all a bit silly, since they are the same fonts and I don't think there's any way for anyone to know whether a file was created using a Home or a Professional version of Windows or Office, but technically Microsoft does make that distinction in their licensing agreements.

Unless you are using an application that is specifically licensed for home, student, or non-commercial use, we do not place any restrictions on what you do with print output that uses these fonts.

It is like they replaced “Commercial Use” by “Use With Commercial Software”. I have never considered this possibility. Makes a knot in the brain.

[Woody44]

Just to add to the confusion, suppose someone has Windows Professional but they bought Office Home & Student? Or they have Windows Home, but they bought Office Professional? This could mean that they can use some of their Microsoft fonts for commercial purposes, but not all of them.

It strikes me as a system of licensing that's impossible to enforce but, technically, this is where it stands.