Helvetica Licensing

[nwel]

Hi,

After trawling the net for a simple answer to a simple question, I have come here to ask you experts out there.

I am modifying an existing logo for a company. The font used in the original is Helvetica Bold.

For ease of explanation, we can assume that the company has not licensed the font at all.

My question is this:

If I purchase Helvetica Bold from linotype:

http://www.linotype.com/13448/helveticabold-font.html

and make a logo consisting of an logo mark and logotype "IHGMISAHIC, CPL" (scrambled) using the newly purchased Helvetica Bold font.

Register the logo to be used on all company stationery and signage, etc.

Will there be any legal problems whatsoever?

YES or NO?

Thanks in advance.

[CHMprepress]

If you buy the font, your officialy coverd.

[jonhayden]

Just curious...who has to own the font when the logo is done?  The company or the designer that made the logo?

[Scott Falkner]

That’s irrelevant. It is no longer a font, it is a logo and artwork. If you don’t convert the type to outlines (and in a logo, one always does) then anyone using the logo will either need the font installed or they must use a PDF of the logo with fonts embedded.

[jonhayden]

Good to know.  Thanks

[nwel]

Thanks guys.

I thought that was the case, but I just wanted to make sure.

[Guest]

What about if I use the font in a web software? The website/application will be used by thousands of people - do they need to have Helvetica installed? If I use a web font kit for Helvetica - how does the license for that work?

Thanks

[BCklotztobias]

You will have to purchase a sharing license similar to a desktop license. https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/neue-helvetica/buy.html you can see how My Fonts has set it up.  That being said, adobe comes stock piled with a ton of web fonts that if you the designer create and manage a website it is perfectly legal to use anything from typekit as long as you have Creative Cloud.

[Dov Isaacs]

A few comments based on the original question and responses:

(1)     If is highly unlikely that you “purchased” a font itself, but rather a license for use of the font.

(2)     There is no simple response as to what you can do with the font and any content using or referencing the font. Legally, you are bound to the EULA (End User License Agreement) in effect at the time you licensed the font. The EULA fully overrides any internal access privilege protections within TrueType or OpenType fonts.

(3)     EULAs vary tremendously not only from vendor to vendor, but often between one font and another offered by the same vendor.

(4)     There are a number of issues associated with licensing including but not limited to (a) number of users/devices that may have the font installed, (b) whether the font or subsets of the font may or may not be embedded in output from the design creation process - i.e., PostScript, EPS, PDF, ePUB, etc., (c) whether such output with embedded fonts may be subsequently distributed without payment of further royalties, (d) whether the font itself may be modified (glyph design, metrics, kerning, hinting, font format, etc.) by the licensee even if only for their own use, (e) conversion to outlines for purposes of bypassing embedding restrictions, (f) use of the font in web pages either statically or dynamically, and (g) use of a font in a corporate identity such as a logo, etc.

(5)     Make no assumptions such as “if you buy the font, your officialy coverd." (sic) That is simply not true!

(6)     Licensing Helvetica Bold from Linotype comes with a dramatically different EULA than the same font licensed from Adobe.

(7)     For the record, in terms of fonts licensed from Adobe, all fonts in the Adobe Type Library have a EULA that permits at least preview and print embedding in EPS, PostScript, PDF, and ePUB, have no restrictions against personal modification (although you can't resell such fonts), have no subsequent royalties for distribution of content with embedded fonts, have no restrictions against conversion to outlines or rasters (although that isn't required to bypass licensing restrictions, obviously), and have no restrictions against use in logos or corporate identities. Fonts in the Adobe Type Library marked as “Adobe Originals” (such as Adobe Garamond, Minion Pro, and Myriad Pro among many others) also allow for editability embedding that allow use of an embedded font for purposes such as dynamic use in a PDF file for forms fields! Web use (i.e., HTML pages other than as a raster) do require separate licensing.

(8)     Per (4)(e) above, it is total rubbish that you can assume that conversion to outlines or rasters legally bypasses any licensing embedding restrictions.

(9)     When in doubt, carefully read the EULA associated with any font you wish to use in a design and if necessary, consult a lawyer with competence in these areas (not an ambulance chaser).

          - Dov