Adobe fonts for commercial use? Need license?

[#1]

Hi,

I am using Illustrator CS5 and need to design a logo for print.  However, I was wondering if someone could please shed some light on whether or not I am allowed to use one of the Adobe fonts that came with my application for commercial use such as a logo?  Also, what is the difference between the Adobe fonts you can purchase here on this web site versus the fonts that come installed with AI CS5?  Would I necessarily have to purchase a license on Adobe.com to use a specific font for a logo?

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[#2]

Hi,

I am using Illustrator CS5 and need to design a logo for print.  However, I was wondering if someone could please shed some light on whether or not I am allowed to use one of the Adobe fonts that came with my application for commercial use such as a logo?  Also, what is the difference between the Adobe fonts you can purchase here on this web site versus the fonts that come installed with AI CS5?  Would I necessarily have to purchase a license on Adobe.com to use a specific font for a logo?

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[#3 · Accepted solution]

You certainly may use any of the fonts bundled with Adobe applications for a logo or similar static content. You may also embed the font in the resultant PDF file or EPS file that you create for the logo for placement in other content. What you cannot do is give out the font file itself to others. By having the font embedded in the PDF or EPS (PDF is the preferred format, by the way), you avoid any such problems or limitations. Note that this is true for Adobe fonts, but not necessarily fonts from other vendors.

          - Dov

[#4]

Thank you so much for your kind assistance Dov.  This is very helpful information. 

Diane

[#5]

our company wants to use either "myriad pro condensed" or "myriad condensed web" in a windows-application they sell. what kind of licensing do we need? any directions? the endusers would not be able to "see" (use) the font outside the application btw, as it will be "hidden" (packaged) within the app — the font would so to speak be "embedded" in the app

any assistance is greatly appreciated, thanx

[#6]

The use you're describing would require a special license which allows application font embedding. You can get in touch from https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html   for more information about that.

Regards,

Christopher

edited to remove retired email address

[#7]

Hi,

I have a similar question regarding the commercial license of some fonts contained in my cloud softwares. I'm on a project right now where I'm to create a logotype, among other things.  I'd like to use Gill Sans, Futura or Eurostile, but I'm unsure whether or not the license allows this.

Also, for the future, is there perhaps a directory or any other type of resource where it's easy to see what fonts may be used for commercial purposes?

Thankful for  help!

- Felicia

[#8]

Dear Dov,

Does this mean that I can use eg. Adobe Song Std L font for a logo design, and embed it to the file, given to the customer? Or does the customer have to buy the license? The mentioned font is on the Preview & Print list.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Augustina

[#9]

You may embed such a font in a PDF (or an EPS) file created from the logo such that the logo will render properly with high quality when either directly printed or viewed or more likely, placed in another document that supports placement of a PDF (or an EPS) file such as InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkXPress, etc. You cannot send a loose font file along with a .AI file that references it unless the recipient also is licensed for the font in question.

          - Dov

[#10]

hello:

Dov, or whomever ... as I understand it Adobe and Microsoft have worked together to develop (open type) fonts and so I have been searching for a way to purchase fonts found in Microsoft Word in order to be able to install them into Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, etc.

Do you know if such a package exist? I've searched and searched  via Google to no avail.

I have come across many clients that start designing their logos in (the ubiquitous) Microsoft Word and then want me to improve upon their homemade logos but none of my Adobe products contain the Microsoft fonts they choose. This, of course, creates a problem for those clients that do not wish to supplement their font for a rather similar one.

I'm also wondering if it's possible (considering the Microsoft/Adobe (font) relationship), to make available to Ps., Illy, etc. the fonts from the M.Word already on my laptop ... ?? That would be so awesome But probably too simple to be so, huh?

Thank you in advance for your time and efforts to help me.

Be well.

[#11]

To start with, just one bit of technical nitpicking. You typically don't actually purschase any fonts themselves, but rather, you purchase licenses to use such fonts.

I've read you posting a few times and am somewhat confused by your question. Regardless of whether your “laptop” is running Windows or MacOS, every font that is installed on your system, whether one of the fonts that is bundled with the operating system or installed by one or another software package (such as Microsoft Office) should be visible and available for use in any Adobe application including InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, FrameMaker, etc. without any additional action on your part. Such fonts (including all the styles associated with same such as regular, bold, italic, and bold italic) should appear in the font lists that you see in the Adobe applications and available for you to format text with in those applications. I personally do this on a regular basis. If you are not seeing those fonts in the font lists for the Adobe applications, something must be very wrong with your system's configuration. Are you using some third party font manager? If so, that may be the source of the problem. Please advise.

          - Dov

[#12]

I have been searching for a way to purchase fonts found in Microsoft Word in order to be able to install them into Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, etc.

You can license Microsoft fonts via Ascender http://www.ascenderfonts.com/foundry/microsoft/

[#13]

Dov,

I am sorry for the confusion. I am very new to all of this and had not touched a computer for over 10 yrs, save for an email account, so I have a very long road of learning ahead.

I will now take a moment to recover from .... being .... totally ... and completely embarassed!!

I did not realize it until your post ... that yes, indeed'ie the fonts in Microsoft Word are available to me in Ps etc.

What stumped me is that last I knew my client also had Windows 7 and so his M.Word had the same fonts but he recently upgraded to 10 and so his font list no longer matches mine. Good thing I am going to upgrade myself this week.

(still feeling )

Well, that was fun. lol ... I swear, I'm not usually like a 5watt bulb

Thank you so much for your time!!

[#14]

Where can I find that acknowledgement? I need to prove that I am permitted to use those fonts for commercial use.

I am using those as parts of my book templets and design.

And there are already many fonts form other vendors added  in my mac, how can i know that it's bundled with Adobe products?

[#15]

For Adobe fonts, you can look at the EULA (End User License Agreement) posted on Adobe's website. It has no restrictions against such commercial use. For Adobe EULAs, see <http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/> and select the appropriate font product(s).

The list of fonts bundled with CS6 is provided at <http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/fontinstall/cs6installedfonts.html>. For CS5 and CS5.5, see <http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/fontinstall/cs5installedfonts.html>. For CS4, see <http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/fontinstall/cs4installedfonts.html>.

          - Dov

[#16]

Dov,

Is it permissible to keep using fonts licensed through our installations through the previous installs of the CS software? And no matter what platform? For example:

I've been upgrading through the years on my PC from CS through CS5. I just bought a MacBook Pro and joined Creative Cloud. Can I copy some of my fonts that were installed with my CS5 (or 4, 3, 2 for that matter) PC version over to my Mac to use with CS6?

[#17]

You are OK!

          - Dov

[#18]

Hi - I know Dov's response above was ages ago, but with regard to .eps files, does "embedding" a font such a sMyriad Pro, mentioned above, just mean that you didn't make it into an outline?

Main clarification I'm seeking is whether embedding might mean that (for Adobe fonts) that you don't have to convert to outlines before sending the files off to clients.

[#19]

Correct. I needed to embed the actual font file into an Adobe Air application so the HTML would be displayed with that typeface. If you create outlines in an eps file you're essentially sending an "image" of the text stuff and you are good to go. Hope that helps.

[#20]

Cool - thanks for the message. I read through your situation above. I do static graphics and specifically with regard to the logo I just made for a client, I'm just trying to discern whether I should convert the tagline, which is in Myriad Pro, to outlines, or whether I can leave it as live text when I send it.

Is this considered "embedding", and is it better to just convert, in case they don't have the same font on their end and it converts to some other font? These are .eps files.

Sorry for my blind feeling around here - lots to take in regarding proper font handling.

[#21]

When I'm doing print stuff I just convert all of the fonts to outlines and send the eps that way. If you're sending a PDF you can embed the fonts.

From Adobe's Licensing page:

Preview & Print: A font with an embedding permission of Preview & Print allows the font, either fully or as a subset, to be embedded in an electronic document solely for the purpose of viewing that document on screen and/or printing that document. While a font with a Preview & Print embedding permission (either through data in the font file or the font’s license agreement) may be embedded in an electronic document, the embedded font may not be used to further edit the document it is contained in or to edit or create other documents. Most fonts in the Adobe Type Library are set for Preview & Print embedding.

Source: http://www.adobe.com/products/type/font-licensing/font-embedding-permissions.html

[#22]

Great this is helpful. I know Dov has said in the past that creating outlines can degrade the text a bit, which is why I was hoping that for a logo tagline, for optimal quality, the file could be safely (and legally) transferred as an .eps with the tagline remaining in "live" text rather than outlines.

But I need to check that there isn't a further step during the saving of the .eps file to ensure that it's set to "preview and print". I did not change any settings during the save process that I know of.

Thanks!

[#23]

When converting text to outlines, you lose the hinting applied. That might be what Dov was referring to. It will look a little rougher on screen, but will print fine. The hinting is for improved on-screen viewing, so if this logo is for print, converting to outlines should not effect the print quality.

The hinting is very helpful for text in PDFs, web text, Office docs — anything with text that will be viewed on screen. Hinting is lost when converting text to an image in Photoshop. This would be required to save the logo for use on a website, for instance, since the EPS format is not compatible with the web.

Myriad Pro has fairly flexible embedding rights, as shared above by Kossos007.

In Illustrator CS6 (and probably previous versions), just check the box for "Embed fonts" when saving as an EPS. I think that should cover you, and the client should not need the fonts.

I'm not as familiar with the embedding options in Illustrator, however, as I am with Acrobat, where you have a lot more control over things like subsetting. Subsetting isn't required by Adobe's license, however, so that doesn't matter anyway.

Good luck!

Laurie (aka: Tiki-Monger)

[#24]

I always forget something!! Photoshop and Illustrator will apply anti-aliasing to text to make it look better on screen, as well, when you convert a logo (or any text) to an image. That's similar to what hinting does, yet different. You can get even better results if when applying anti-aliasing to hinted, non-outlined text. Here's some decent info and images of how these various settings effect your type on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font_rasterization

Not my area of expertise, but I thought it might be relevant for you if your client asks for web ready versions of the logo.

Laurie

[#25]

Hi Dov,

Does the same apply for using "default" Adobe supplied brushes Strokes included with Illustrator?  As a basic example creating a logo with a square that used the Charcoal - Feather Art Brush stroke applied.  Are we ok to use this commercial use as well?

Would we need to include a copyright Adobe reference somewhere in our works if we used the Adobe fonts that came with Illustrator?

Cheers.

[#26]

There is no restriction on using any of the digital assets included with Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign as part of your design. And there is no requirement to provide attribution.

          - Dov

[#27]

Dear Dov

I am confused about if i  use Adobe to creat a static picture that has the fonts bundled with Adobe software, will it be legal to use it in a commercial game?

Thank you

[#28]

As long as the font itself isn't in the game, i.e. the “static picture” is a raster image or vector outlines - in other words, you are generating live text from an embedded or downloaded font dynamically, you are OK.

          - Dov

[#29]

I am still confused, do you mean that if I design a game logo or dialogue text in the game, which contain the font charaters bundled from Adobe, that'll no be allowed?

For my case in more details, if I embed my newly-created logo picture (based on an Adobe-licensed font and Photoshop) into the game. The logo-type is definitely not 'editable'. Also, a large portion of game content is not 'editable' since it's titles, legends, and explanatory stuff. For cohesiveness, I DO use the Adobe font as displayed text in the game (player names, points, whatever). This displayed text might be considered 'editable' since it is a variable and most of it changes for each game play event(e.g when player is hit, his health is going to drop and you will see his health valuse decreases on the screen).

Will this be allowed if Ibuy the license from Adobe?

Thank u!!

[#30]

If you need to dynamicallly use the font, i.e. create text using the font, you need access to the font while the game is running and effectively you must embed the font with the game somehow. That usage is not included with the standard Adobe font license.

For this type of advanced font licensing, contact Adobe directly at <font-licensing@adobe.com>.

          - Dov

[#31]

Hi Dov, hope this thread still has life in it.

I'm using starling and a bitmap font in an app that I'm building in Flash Builder.  I'm using AmericanTypewriter. 

I'm dynamically generating text during the game, but I'm building it from the sprite sheet bitmap (which was created from the font).  Is this allowed?  Or is this the same as though I were using the font directly to dynamically generate the text?

I feel like the path of font -->  bitmap logo is similar to font --> bitmap letters --> generated words.  But until I hear back from you (which I hope I do) I'm going to visit Mr. Free Font Shop.

[#32]

Have you or someone else here ever found out the answer to this?

I'm having similiar problem in my thread:

Is it legal to use adobe fonts as bitmap in a game?

[#33]

I only use free for commercial use fonts for all of my embedded, digital stuff now. The big foundries are still lost in the sauce with licensing so I've just given up on them all together.

Google and Font Squirrel have a huge library of fonts that are free to embed.

I use Typekit for some of my web based stuff but not for apps.

Sorry to say, but this issue forced me away as a font customer...

[#34]

Hey -

A month late but I just saw this.  

Yeah, I use free fonts and then try to customize them as much as possible with glyphDesigner.   I do stand by the argument that using bitmap fonts would be parallel to using bitmaps made from fonts (and there for not triggering payment) but, you know,until I know for sure, I figured I wouldn't mess with it.

Hope things worked out for you.

[#35]

yes i ended up using free font too..

cross post from my thread if anyone looks for this info:

---

Just to update this, ended up using a free font as a basis for the bitmap one from i think Google Fonts - under OpenSIL license... i also learned that many of the free fonts on web are under license that is only free for personal use, so worth checking each particular font... the biggest free repositiories i've found are google fonts (https://www.google.com/fonts), fontsquirrel.com, dafont.com and openfontlibrary.org. with google fonts having the most clear license- all under one license..

[#36]

Hello,

I have a commercial project involving a printed children book.

The book will be published and sold in bookstores.

Can I use one of adobes polices (Giddyup Std) for free ?

Or do I need a special licence in order to have it on a printed book ?

Where can I find such Licence ?

thanks 😃

[#37]

Hi. Giddyup Std cannot be used "for free." If you'd like to use Giddyup Std for your book, you can purchase a license from Fontspring. At Fontspring, Adobe's fonts are sold with Adobe's EULA, which makes no distinction between personal or commercial use. Either is fine.

Please read the EULA before you buy, so you understand all the license terms.

I hope that helps.

-Christopher

[#38]

And to be perfectly clear, you don't buy the font, but rather you buy a license to use the font! 

          - Dov

[#39]

Hello again,

I have another question concerning this Giddyup Std font (or any other font)

If we decide to buy the license to use the font, in a published children's book, can we then edit it slightly to better fit some requierment of the book ?

The book is meant to be readable by children around 6 to 8, when they first start reading.

Some of the letters are prouving troublesome.

Would it be legal for us to slightly change 4 or 5 letter slightly to make it easyer for them ?

thx 😃

[#40]

“Would it be legal for us to slightly change 4 or 5 letter slightly to make it easyer for them ?”

Hi. You asked this a while ago; sorry I missed it. Adobe's own EULA (i.e. for fonts licensed from Fontspring) allows modification like this. Typekit's license does not, and many other foundry EULAs do not -- so you'll want to read the license terms carefully.

[#41]

Hello,

I want to know if it is okay to use adobe fonts for printing on fabric to sell? Does this fall under commercial use?

Thanks you!

[#42]

It depends on your end user license agreement (EULA). If the Adobe font you're using came directly from Adobe, or was bundled with an Adobe product, then its use is covered by Adobe's standard font license terms, which make no distinction between personal and commercial use — either is fine.

Also, Adobe fonts (but not others) licensed from Fontspring come with Adobe's font EULA.

Of course, you should always know which EULA covers any font you're using, and read its terms carefully!

Regards,

Christopher

[#43]

Hi,

I have Creative Cloud for students, for my internship i need to make a logo and business card and some other things that need to be printed and will be used commercial. Can I use one of the Adobe font that's in my Illustrator and Indesign? I want to use Century Gothic.

Or do i need to buy a license for my client?

[#44]

Century Gothic is not a font provided by Adobe as part of the Creative Cloud subscription. It is a font that is commonly installed with Windows and/or Microsoft Office. If Century Gothic (actually a Monotype copy of ITC Avant Garde) is on your system, it was by virtue of either Windows or Office.

          - Dov

[#45]

Hi,

My client is a small alternative record label, and would like to use the title of the record to produce some merchandise such as t-shirts and sweaters. I have used an Adobe font. How does it work for that?

[#46]

Your question depends entirely on the license agreement that applies to the font software you're using. That is, an Adobe font can be licensed from different resellers with their own end user license agreement (EULA), so you need to be sure from where you got your font(s).

If you use sync fonts from Typekit, then work produced using those fonts can be distributed and used for commercial purposes. For example, you could sync Myriad Pro Italic from Typekit, create a design and print it on a t-shirt, and sell that t-shirt to anyone you like. You'll find more about this on our licensing FAQ page.

Adobe fonts purchased from Fontspring also use Adobe's own font EULA, which allows commercial use. (Note that other non-Adobe fonts on Fontspring come with a different EULA.)

Regards,

Christopher

[#47]

Hello Christopher,

I am an adobe illustrator subscriber.I want to sell printed tshirts for commercial.Can i use typekit and illustrator fonts on my tshirt designs for free?

or do I have to buy a license?

Thanks.

[#48]

You can use any Typekit sync (desktop) fonts to create designs for products that you sell commercially. (The same applies to fonts you purchase through Typekit Marketplace.) There is much more to the Typekit license, including various restrictions, so make sure you read and understand the entire Typekit terms of use.

Regards,

Christopher

[#49]

Dov,

Although you say in your reply that PDF is the "preferred" format, it is still just as legal to embed fonts in an EPS which is used in commercial print is it?

cheers

mark.

[#50]

For the fonts licensed from Adobe for which PDF embedding is permitted, EPS embedding is also permitted. Do not assume that this is necessarily true for fonts licensed by any other means.

          - Dov

[#51]

Hi Dov,

I just wanted to ask something please.
With the fonts within Font Folio 9, are we able to convert some letters to outlines, then change the shape of the letters to suit our designs, logo etc? I note that it says in the EULA that only some are able to be modified, I was unsure what this meant though, is this the actual font software or the letter once it has been converted to paths?.

[#52]

The language in our license terms regarding font modification is referring to modified font files -- not any changes to outlines.

All fonts under an Adobe font EULA can be converted to outlines in software like Adobe Illustrator, and those outlines can then be changed and used in designs and other documents -- to make a logo, for example.

Font modification, on the other hand, is changing the font itself -- including things like modifying or adding glyphs, or changing spacing -- such that the modified font you install and use on your system contains those changes. Not all fonts can be modified in this way; they are identified on our "Additional License Rights" page.

If you modify a font, using it counts toward your permitted number of license "seats". Our standard EULA allows a font (original or modified) to be installed and used on up to 5 computers.

Regards,

Christopher

[#53]

Hi Dov,

Thanks so much for your help, you are a champion.

I hope all is well over your way.

chat later

matt

[#54]

Dov,

I'm extremely confused when readin this thread- wondering if you can help me out. I've made a logo using Futura font, which I believe is one of the fonts that comes with the Adobe CS6 package. Can I use this logo for my business or will I need to purchase a license for the font to do so?

[#55]

No version of Futura has ever been bundled with Adobe applications.

For Windows, neither Windows itself nor Microsoft Office bundles any version of Futura.

For MacOS, I believe five faces of Futura (Medium, Medium Italic, Bold, Condensed Medium, and Condensed ExtraBold) are bundled with MacOS in OpenType TrueType format.

Since I don't know where you obtained or licensed your particular version(s) of Futura typefaces, I cannot comment on whether the font's license permits any particular use. You would need to track down its source and enquire of that source as to what rights you have in terms of the font's use.

          - Dov

[#56]

Hello,

I have Illustrator CS4 can I use the included fonts to create stock Images? Or which of them can I use?

best regards

Cordula

[#57]

Yes, as long as you create an artwork on it's own and do not distribute the fonts.

[#58]

Thanks for your help

[#59]

See also here: Re: Adobe fonts for commercial use? Need license?