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A
Anonymous
March 21, 2014
Question

Can I print/publish/sell my book if I buy an Adobe license for Helvetica?

  • March 21, 2014
  • 1 reply
  • 4136 views

Hello,

I'm wanting to self-publish a print book using the Helvetica™ Neue Std Ultra Light font which I can purchase the license for its use from the Adobe store. I'm just learning about licenses and commercial use, trying to get my head around it all. So, if I buy the license for this font through Adobe, does that mean I can publish/print my book and sell these books?

From what I can gather, all Adobe fonts whether those that come with the bundle or those that a license is bought for through the store, are allowed to be used for commercial use. Correct me if I'm wrong. It seems that this is all good for web and video stuff but I just wanted to see if it was okay for the printing and selling of novels? I'm being pedantic but just want to be really explicit about these details so I don't have to worry about this legal stuff later.

Also, if this is the case, then does that mean I can use any font that already comes with adobe in a book and sell the book? E.g. Segoe print, arial unicode ms, freestyle script, etc. All of them, really. Specifically, I'm using InDesign to create my books and want to use the fonts it comes with to save money if that's possible.

Any hep would be great!


Thanks heaps.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Dov Isaacs
Dov Isaacs
Legend
March 21, 2014

For all fonts licensed from Adobe either bundled with Adobe applications or licensed separately via Adobe's website or authorized resellers, there is no restriction whatsoever on using the font in books that you either print directory, print via PDF with fonts embedded, or distribute electronically as PDF. There are some restrictions in terms of embedding fonts in EPub files, but the Adobe applications producing same take care of those restrictions (subset embedding and obfuscation) for you. And you can sell these printed or electronic books to your heart's content with no extra restrictions, fees, royalties, etc. Good luck in your venture!

In terms of the non-Adobe fonts you specifically mention – Segoe Print, Arial Unicode MS, Freestyle Script – these are fonts that are installed with Windows and/or Microsoft Office, not Adobe applications. At Adobe we cannot comment on the legality of use of these fonts as you describe. That having been said, the font files are physically marked to permit “preview and print embedding” for output. And many users do commonly use them for publishing. For a legal opinion on this, you would need to obtain the EULA (End User License Agreement) for the fonts from Microsoft.

          - Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
A
Anonymous
March 22, 2014

Thank-you so much for clarifying. Great news for the Adobe licenses. Woohoo!

So, in InDesign, how do I find out if a font is bundled with Adobe or installed with Windows/Microsoft Office. As the fonts all appear in a long list with most of them all together above all the extra fonts at the bottom of the list, I'm not sure how to get this info. E.g. Freestyle script appears in the main list while Arial unicode appears in the secondary list.

Also, I've read through a few EULAs and am struggling to know what to look for when it comes to permission for commercial use - sepcifically the selling of print books. I'm getting a lot about embedding, software, sharing, etc. but not sure how to know if I can print a book and sell it.

Dov Isaacs
Dov Isaacs
Legend
March 22, 2014

Look at <http://www.adobe.com/products/type/creative-cloud-fonts.html> to see lists of fonts installed by Adobe Creative Cloud software.

Arial Unicode and some other fonts appear in separate lists due to significant differences in their character sets. The main list contains fonts that are primarily Western Latin character sets. Asian fonts of symbolic fonts (based on how they declare themselves) are in separate lists. Arial Unicde attempts to support many Unicode character sets and is thus not in the main list.

Reading EULAs is not fun or for the faint of heart. Generally speaking, if something isn't prohibited explicitly in the EULA such as printing books using a font and selling those books for profit, you should be OK. Anything that implies an ability to embed a font or allow others to use a font embedded in an application, don't assume anything. Most EULAs prevent the latter without a special license and royalty payment.

          - Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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