Using fonts from the Adobe Type Basics in a PDF

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about fonts that I hope you can help me with.

I am about to purchase the Adobe Type Basics collection, and I believe that after I purchase this pack I will be able to do "Preview and Print" permission-based stuff. For example, I'll be able to embed the fonts into a PDF that I can send to a commercial printer in order to get the document turned into a physical product (i.e. a paperback book).

However, do I have the permission to embed some of these Type Basic fonts into a PDF that is meant to be sold or distributed to the general public as a PDF eBook? In other words, can I embed the font (for commercial purposes) into a PDF file meant to be sold "as is" as a digital product? Is there a separate license for this? And or PDF eBooks?

Additionally, if Adobe creates a new license in the future, does that mean that my current license is replaced? For example, say they create a "PDF eBook license" in the future, does that mean that I have no choice but to buy that license?

I hope you can help.

Thanks 🙂

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

All Adobe Type Library products include the right to embed the fonts in PDF files with at least Preview and Print privileges. There are no further restrictions or license fees. Thus, you may send the resultant PDF files to commercial printer and anyone else. regardless of whether you are charging for those PDF files or not. That covers any and all PDF-based “eBooks!”

Your license is the license in effect at the time you license the fonts. There is no clause in the license that allows Adobe to change the terms of the license or retroactively change your ability to use the fonts.

          - Dov

PS:     This is not necessarily true for other font foundries. Some have archaic restrictions! Some charge royalties on any commercial distribution of PDF files with their fonts embedded! Carefully read the End User License Agreements of all products before licensing them.

[Guest]

Thanks for answering that. I am thrilled to hear that.

It sounds as if Adobe's font EULA is very fair. And reasonable.

May I ask some additional questions?

+ Some of the fonts in the Basic Types pack are sublicensed, if I'm not mistaken. Are there additional terms from their original foundries that I need to observe? Or do Adobe's terms supercede and void any third-party terms?

+ Do I have to observe any specific embedding techniques? I know some foundries are VERY fussy about how you embed fonts in a PDF. I use Word for Mac, MS Word, Pages, and some open source word processors. None of which are very "advanced" with regards to PDF exportation.

Thanks for answering my questions in a prompt and detailed manner.

[Dov Isaacs]

Your license for the fonts that Adobe licenses from other font foundries (such as Linotype and ITC, all actually part of the Monotype monolith) is that issued by Adobe which is very different from the licenses for the same or similar fonts issued directly from those foundries. The Adobe license is much more liberal!

          - Dov

[Guest]

Hi again.

Thank you so much for your expert advice. I really appreciate that you took the time to answer all my questions. Can I ask another one?

If I modify the outlines or rasterized image of a font in Photoshop or Illustrator, does this count as "Font Modification"? I am not altering the font file or font software. All I am doing is using the font to create an image on the screen, and then subsequently modifying this image or outline. For example, stretching or altering the proportions of a font in an image. Or manipulating the shapes of the finials etc. Or adding things to the font's lettering.

I just wanted to check because I know that only some of the Adobe fonts have font modification permissions. So I just wanted to check what this modification entailed.

[Dov Isaacs]

Font modification refers to opening and subjecting a font file to edits in a font editor and outputting as a font. That is not the same as using the convert to outlines or rasterize functions available in Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop and subjecting those particular outlines or raster images to transformations and/or full edits.

The fonts in the Adobe Type Library internally sourced allow for end-user modifications, i.e. actual modifications to the fonts themselves. Those sourced externally, no. But you may convert any text using those fonts to outlines and apply artistic effects and modifications to those outlines (or rasters) within the context of the document you are working on. Obviously, you can't then attempt to create a font from all those modified outlines as a workaround!

For a comprehensive listing of fonts offered in the Adobe Type Library and their “additional license rights,” see <http://www.adobe.com/products/type/font-licensing/additional-license-rights.html>.

Attached to this posting are PDF files with the lists of fonts with specific “additional license rights.”

          - Dov

[Guest]

Thanks Dov. You were incredibly helpful.