Can I use web fonts in a white label platform?

Mark:

Following up on Neelam’s answer: most typefoundries have the same general licensing terms about how their fonts can be used.

In a nutshell: if you’re actively using a font, you need to have a licence. Adobe Fonts allows you – the designer – to use any font available on the service.

But the moment you hand off any active working files to your company’s clients, those clients will become the active font users. And they’ll need to have the appropriate licences from the typefoundries in question.

If your web platform is actively building new artwork and new webpages, it’s best to think of it as an application like you’d find on a mobile phone. For the typefoundry, that means you’re using their font files to generate new content and to render text on webpages (think: a user interface font). The Adobe Fonts licence doesn’t cover this type of use, so it’s best to contact the typefoundry directly to negotiate a custom licence.

If this form of licensing is not practical for you, then there’s another way to provide your clients with a choice of fonts: use open-source typefaces that they can host on their own servers.

There are several places to find open-source types. Adobe Fonts has a selection, including the popular Source Sans and Code families designed by my colleague Paul Hunt:

https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/source-sans-3
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/source-code-pro

Source is a diverse typeface family, and includes support for many languages and character sets. A good complimentary typeface is Frank Grießhammer’s Source Serif:

https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/source-serif-4

Other excellent resources for finding open-source typefaces are FontSquirrel and Google Fonts:

https://www.fontsquirrel.com/
https://fonts.google.com/

Both of these sites have a good selection to choose from, and will in most cases also allow you to download web-compatibale Woff and Woff2 font files that you can install and self-serve as part of your web platform.

Please keep in mind that open-source typefaces also have licences: be sure to read them in detail. Some open-source licences allow you to do whatever you want; others will require that any adaptations you make to font files be shared with the open-source community.

I hope that answers your question. If not, please let me know.

Best regards
Andrew

–30–

Hi Mark,

Thank you for reaching out to us. For your question, I am afraid it's only a way for Adobe to license fonts to you, not a way for others to control the distribution of fonts. Great idea though.

This link should answer most or all of your questions: https://www.adobe.com/products/type/font-licensing/licensing-faq.html

Please let us know if this helps.

Regards,

Neelam