Font Licensing

[juliet81]

Hi there, I am using Parallels off my Mac (OS X Yosemite) and am trying to find out if I am allowed to legally use the Mac Library fonts in parallels applications (CorelDraw X6).

Thanks for your help!

[Dov Isaacs]

You would need to consult with the supplier of each of the fonts. There is no universally-correct response to your question, unfortunately!

            - Dov

[juliet81]

Thank you Dov,

This is such a hard one. I suppose the only way to go forward is to purchase perpetual licenses for each font or alternatively, do you know much about Adobe Typekit? Would I be able to use adobe subscription fonts in CorelDraw off Parallels both legally and practically?

[Dov Isaacs]

Assuming you have a current Typekit license and have installed the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop software under Parallels, in theory this should work as long as your Typekit and/or Creative Cloud license is current. That having been said, I haven't personally tried Typekit either with Parallels or with CorelDRAW and certainly not with the combination of those.

       - Dov

[liz, Adobe Type]

Hi all,

I apologize for the late update on this thread: Juliet and I have been working on it over email in Typekit Support, and have just come to the final answers.

> Would I be able to use adobe subscription fonts in CorelDraw off Parallels both legally and practically?

There wouldn't be any licensing issue: using the fonts from Typekit in Parallels is considered the same as using them on a "real" Windows computer. So you would be able to use those fonts for all the projects allowed under the font licensing:

http://help.typekit.com/customer/portal/articles/1341590-typekit-font-licensing

The font licensing includes two computers, so you could use the fonts both on Parallels and on OS X with the same account.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to find any way to use fonts from Typekit with Corel Draw specifically.

I don't use Corel Draw myself, but have been reading through their help documentation and it appears that the fonts have to be installed using the Font Navigator in the software. With Typekit font sync, you don't have direct access to the font files, so you will not be able to install them via the Font Navigator. 

You may be familiar with how that works already, but here is a link for reference:

http://howto.corel.com/en/c/Using_Bitstream_Font_Navigator

The fonts should work in other programs in your Parallels installation, such as Word or PowerPoint, should you decide to try them out there.

I am sorry that we couldn't offer you a solution for this one! I am tracking it in our support software, so we can keep in mind ways to support software like Corel Draw in the future.

Please let me know if you have any other questions, either here or by email at support@typekit.com

-- liz

[samw93225188]

Dov Isaacs Hi, just a quick question about font licensing.

I have a client who wants a logo, packaging and collateral (business cards etc) designed and I was wanting to use Gill Sans and Georgia for the logo and just Gill Sans for the packaging/collateral.

What type of license would I need to purchase to legally use these for commercial logotype/packaging?. As all I seem to find are licenses for web.

If possible do you have a link to the page/s of the specific licenses.

Thanks

Sam

[Dov Isaacs]

Sam,

I wish it was possible to give you a simple answer to this. For fonts licensed from Adobe, this is relatively simple, but the two fonts you mention are more problematic.

The TrueType Georgia font family is from Microsoft, designed by Matthew Carter, and distributed with Windows and Microsoft applications. The embedding permissions in the fonts are set to editable which means that the fonts may be embedded in PDF files. Thus, if you create logos, packaging, and collateral sent for printing or display as PDF files, you are not breaking any licensing in that way. You can't send the loose font files out, though. That having been said, what I don't know is whether Microsoft has any restrictions against using the resultant PDF files for commercial purposes and if so, whether Microsoft charges a royalty for such use (especially in a logo).  Since it isn't Adobe's font, I can't assist you with that. You would need to contact someone (I don't know who) in Microsoft.

Gill Sans is another and much more complex matter. There is a family of Gill Sans fonts (Gill Sans MT) that is distributed by Microsoft, sourced from Monotype. Although the embedding permissions are set to editable (like Georgia), without you consulting Microsoft and possibly Monotype, it is impossible to know what is truly allowed by the license for these fonts. To make the matter even more complex, other versions of Gill Sans are available from Adobe (OpenType CFF), Monotype, and others. For each one of these, you would need to consult with the particular vendor to find out exactly what the font license includes and especially, whether there are any royalties for distribution of PDF files (or EPUB) with the font embedded. In the case of the Adobe version of the Gill Sans family (Gill Sans Std), you are permitted to embed the fonts for preview and print in PDF and you can distribute the resultant PDF files and use the printed or displayed content using those fonts commercially without any subsequent royalties. Again, you cannot send loose font files with your logo. You must embed in the PDF file.

Sorry I cannot be more helpful, but every font vendor has different licensing and business models.

          - Dov

[samw93225188]

Hi Dov Isaacs,

Thank you for your response. Just to clarify, if I purchased the Gill Sans Std license from Adobe I would be allowed to use the font for commercial purposes such as the logos and print media (such as packaging) ?. If so then I would be interested in purchasing the adobe license, do you have a link to the relevant page (Gill Sans Std) so i can further investigate and discuss the pricing with my client?

Also, is there a page where i can find adobe licensed fonts? (so i could look up an alternative Serif to Georgia)

Thank you for your help on this confusing matter.

Sam

[Dov Isaacs]

Sam,

The link to Adobe's font page is Buy, download fonts | Adobe Type. You can get details of the Adobe fonts and the licensing agreements from there.

However, within the last year, Adobe no longer directly licenses single fonts. We do it through partners. The most direct partner is Fontspring at Adobe | Fontspring. However, Fontspring is only licensing fonts that Adobe has created themselves. The other fonts, such as Gill Sans Std are now only available as part of our Font Folio package (http://www.adobe.com/products/fontfoliofamily.html), a rather pricey proposition for your needs. Thus, you will need to license Gill Sans directly from other vendors (please read their licensing agreements first) — sorry!

        - Dov