Skip to main content
zoc29338512
zoc29338512
New Participant
August 20, 2017
Answered

Font usage and licencing

  • August 20, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 5124 views

Hi,

I'm completely new to all this and have been getting a bit confused. Basically I want to understand what I can and can't use for client work e.g logos/leaflets etc. I have just bought the adobe cloud for individual and will mainly be using Photoshop and Illustrator. 

Are all the fonts that came with Photoshop/Illustrator when I signed up the the Creative Cloud free to be used for 'Print and Preview Embedding'?

I have looked at the 'Understanding Font Permissions' and the 'Font Permissions Table' but have noticed for example that a font that appears in Photoshop/Illustrator isn't listed (Zapfino) so how do I know how fonts like this can be used?

Also, I wanted to use the font 'American Typewriter' in a logo for a client.  The idea being to produce a design that can be used on signs and other promotional printed items. It appears as a 1 under the 'Font Permissions Table', have I understood this right that I can do this as long as the design file I give to the client is not editable in terms of the font/giving them the font file e.g Jpeg, PDF etc?

Thanks

      Correct answer Dov Isaacs

      The list you are referring to is only with regards to fonts that were installed with Adobe products or that you have licensed directly from Adobe. It does not refer to fonts that appear in the list of fonts available when you use an application program, in this case Illustrator or Photoshop. The application programs list all fonts currently installed on the system, not fonts installed by that particular application. Unless you licensed American Typewriter directly from Adobe, you need to contact the source of the font to find out what restrictions they have with their particular license.

                - Dov

      1 reply

      Dov Isaacs
      Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
      Brainiac
      August 20, 2017

      The list you are referring to is only with regards to fonts that were installed with Adobe products or that you have licensed directly from Adobe. It does not refer to fonts that appear in the list of fonts available when you use an application program, in this case Illustrator or Photoshop. The application programs list all fonts currently installed on the system, not fonts installed by that particular application. Unless you licensed American Typewriter directly from Adobe, you need to contact the source of the font to find out what restrictions they have with their particular license.

                - Dov

      - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
        zoc29338512
        zoc29338512Author
        New Participant
        August 20, 2017

        Apologies I'm very new to all this and don't quite understand what you mean.  I don't understand the licencing, I have recently paid for the Creative Cloud for individual package that includes various applications including Photoshop and Illustrator.  Within those applications 'American Typewriter' was already included in their fonts list which I checked against the 'Font permissions table' on the adobe website and it is listed 1. Having bought the Creative Cloud applications from Adobe does that mean I am licensed to use the font?

        Thanks

        Dov Isaacs
        Dov Isaacs
        Brainiac
        August 20, 2017

        We at Adobe cannot definitively give you a “yes” or “no” response!

        American Typewriter was absolutely not installed by the Adobe Creative Cloud applications and that font was either already installed on your system or you licensed it explicitly from some font foundry.

        The “list” you are referring to on the Adobe website only refers to fonts you licensed directly from Adobe. Unless you licensed American Typewriter from Adobe over two years ago, then that list on Adobe's website is totally irrelevant to you.

        Note that if you are running on MacOS (which I will assume for the remainder of this post), Apple provides seven faces of American Typewriter with the operating system. That is probably what you are seeing in the font menus of Illustrator and Photoshop. Assuming that is the case, use of those American Typewriter fonts is subject to the MacOS EULA - End User License Agreement (see attached). On page 2, you will see:

        E. Fonts. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you may use the fonts included with the Apple Software to display and print content while running the Apple Software; however, you may only embed fonts in content if that is permitted by the embedding restrictions accompanying the font in question. These embedding restrictions can be found in the Font Book/Preview/Show Font Info panel.

        Based on this information, you should be able to use this font within a PDF file in which the font is embedded. PDF would be the logical manner for transmission of a logo. (JPEG is a terrible format for logos. It is raster at a particular resolution, cannot have a transparent background, and shows compression artifacts since it is a lossy compression! But for that matter, you don't embed a font in JPEG; it is a rendition of a font!) All that having been said, Apple's EULA is totally silent when it comes to whether the font can be used for beyond simply displaying and printing. Some font foundries and vendors require extra licensing or royalties for use of a font in logos, tee shirts, etc. Apple's EULA is silent on this. Thus, if you want to use it for such a purpose, you might want to contact Apple's legal department to determine whether they have any restrictions on use of MacOS-bundled fonts beyond those listed in the above-listed section E of the EULA.

                  - Dov

        - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
          Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
          Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices