Font Licensing for Commercial Use - Video Games

[jaimebencia]

Hello everyone.

I need some SERIOUS help so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm currently in the process of Producing a video game which is using Minion Pro (Bold and Medium). I've been trying to call anyone and everyone at Adobe to figure out what I need to do to license this particular font for my game but after three weeks I still don't have an answer.

That said, I've come to understand that if I've bought a copy of Adobe Suite (which includes the Minion Pro font) the license allows me to use the font commercially. Meaning, I can legally use the Minion Pro font in my game.

Is this valid? Can anyone provide insight on this? If not valid, what do I need to do to secure a license?

Help please!

[MichaelKazlow]

Using a font commercially doesn't give you the right to distribute the font for others to use. Hopefully, someone from Adobe will drop by to give you the skinny for what you need to do to use the font in your game. If you rasterize the fonts as part of a graphic image, you could probably distribute your game. The issues relates to distributing the fonts which include the mathematical descriptions of the letter forms.

[Jacob Bugge]

Jaime,

Outlining the fonts, as you may in Illustrator (Type>Create Outlines), thereby changing the individual letters into vector objects (vector images instead of (parts of) raster images)), should be sufficient because it will prevent anyone from extracting and using the live fonts.

This would ensure scalability and highest possible quality.

Edit: On second thought I believe your question may be about the user actually using the live font for entering something in connexion with the game.

In that case, outlining/raster images are out of the question, obviously. Instead, you will have to get an answer from Adobe.

[jaimebencia]

Hey everyone. A bit more info...

The font displayed is a set of bitmaps created from the TrueType font. No vector definition is included in the executable.

Those bitmap images are used to display static text (ie, the text is displayed as it is in the text database, no text is created during the game). With the sole exception of numbers which are used for counters.

All this said, what do I do? I've tried contacting anyone and everyone at Adobe but no one seems to have an answer for me. The font is to appear in a game and I need to figure out ASAP what I need to do to make sure I'm in the clear legally.

As mentioned in my earlier post, I have a copy of Adobe Creative Suite (which includes Minion Pro). Does having the Suite license mean I can use this font in my video game commercially with the information provided above (in bold) in mind?

[Jacob Bugge]

Jaime,

If there is no use of live fonts for users to insert  text or numbers, there is no way that your intended use of the font can violate the terms of use.

It is customary to create PDFs with embedded fonts, in other words the fonts themselves, not even outlined, only not accessible for extraction and independent use by the reader.

And it is customary to send AI files to customers with outlined type; live type would require the customer to have the font sent separately, and that is a breach of the terms.

If you need to feel more safe, you may consider sending a Private Message to

Thomas Phinney, http://forums.adobe.com/people/Thomas%20Phinney

or

Dov Isaacs, http://forums.adobe.com/people/Dov%20Isaacs,

or wait for either of them to spot this thread.

They know more than anyone about this.

[jaimebencia]

Thanks for the information Jacob. Much appreciated!

[Thomas Phinney]

I used to do type at Adobe, but left in December. Really, when it comes to something like this you need feedback from either Adobe or from a lawyer who reviews Adobe's license terms for the app bundle that included the fonts.

If the license terms are unclear, it gets complicated. You might also look at Adobe's font licensing FAQ: http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/antipiracy/ff_faq.html

Otherwise, maybe Dov has some suggestions....

T

[Dov Isaacs]

Obviously, your game which I assume is an executable program can refer and use any font that it wants to.

The real issue is whether you can distribute the font with your executable either (1) as a loose file – the font file is included with your installer and installed on the system in the system font directory or in your own private directory when you install the executable video game or (2) somehow embedded in your executable or game description file.

With Adobe's fonts, you clearly cannot use strategy (1) simply based on the license you received with the Creative Suite. Strategy (2) would be roughly akin to embedding in a PDF file, but it is different enough that you really should check with Adobe. I suspect that if you wanted to persue strategy (1), you might find Adobe willing to work with you, but you would need to pay a royalty of some type for use of the font.

You didn't say who within Adobe you contacted. You may wish to call Adobe's main phone number in San Jose and try to speak with our legal department about font licenses. They should be able to definitively tell you what you can or cannot do and guide you to the specific persons who could work out a licensing agreement with you.

          - Dov

[ryanipodalot]

The program lets you license your custom made fonts, so you shouldn't have a problem.

If you're concerned, try checking out some font websitse like dafont.com and looking at some of the fonts that are under license. The author's website is provided, and you can probably contact them through there and ask them how they licensed their fonts. I wanted to secure a font for my best online flash games website and I went through my lawyer, and he took care of it.

I'm sure there's a service online somewhere that lets you do this kind of thing.