Thank you Douglas,

I needed to get a handle on the copyright issue and your response is
extremely helpful. I guess I will just leave it to my users to buy
the fonts they need to embed!

Regards,

David Fowle


--- In pdflib@yahoogroups.com, "Douglas Hanna" <douglas.hanna@...> wrote:
>
> David,
>
> NOTE: Not a lawyer and not providing legal advice!
>
> To start off with, read the font's EULA - it is either a text file, PDF or
> some other such document provided with the original font files. It will
> explicitly tell you what you can and cannot do. Whether or not those will
> hold up in court is another matter.
>
> For fonts you already have, but didn't necessarily purchase (e.g. came
> with Windows, Mac, etc.) - same rules apply. You need to back track
> through that vendor and find out what T's and C's they negotiated with the
> fonts. To ensure you have the T's & C's you want, you may want to
> repurchase them. Yes, that's more money, but it gives you an ironclad
> out.
>
> For new fonts, find the name, then start digging through the various
> foundry resellers to find the best terms.
>
> For example, Garamond purchased as an Adobe font from Veer (www.veer.com)
> does not have the same T's & C's if purchased from Monotype Imaging
> (www.fonts.com). Even if purchased from MI as an Adobe Font.
>
> There are NO standards for font licensing. Adobe tends to have the most
> liberal. Followed by Bitstream (www.myfonts.com) and T-26. Monotype and
> FontFont (www.fontshop.com) are slightly more conservative, followed by
> emigree and the tightest restrictions being Hoffler and Frere-Jones
> (www.typography.com).
>
> In short, read the EULA. If you are confused, e-mail or call them.
> Seriously. Tell them you have a EULA question. Spell out what it is you
> want to do (understand your audience) and they will tell you what you need
> to purchase and how much it will cost.
>
> For instance, we have fonts that are loaded onto a USSHFS (Unix System
> Services/Hierarchical File System) partition of a IBM z/OS mainframe. I
> explained that to one vendor (yes, it took a little while) and they
> finally understood what I was doing and built out a custom license for our
> usage. Didn't cost that much either.
>
> If their T's & C's don't meet your needs, tell them as such. And tell
> them who you did go with and what the sticking point was. Don't be
> offensive, abrasive or abusive. This area is nothing more than business.
> Not personal. Remember, it's your money. Part with it on your terms. The
> more you let them know why they didn't get the nod, the more apt they are
> to change their behavior.
>
> I have never heard of anyone getting sued or fined for illegal font usage.
> But, it is still a copyrighted work and as such is licensed in vaiour
> jurisdictions. People spent a great deal of time and effort in designing
> them - they should be allowed compenstation for their efforts. Again, if
> you think the price is too high, go somewhere else.
>
> And while Courier may be your first font choice - trust me - it is a lousy
> font for PDF work due to it being a stroked (not outline) font. You would
> be better off with a different monospaced font. One a little fatter and
> easier to read at small screen sizes - e.g. Letter Gothic. There are
> others - take a look.
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Douglas Hanna
> Document Publishing Technologist | ITS Enterprise Operations
> Hewitt Associates | 100 Half Day Road
> Tel 847-295-5000
> dthanna at hewitt dot com | www.hewitt.com
>
>
>
> "David Fowle" <dfowle@...>
>
> Sent by: pdflib@yahoogroups.com
> 06/23/2009 12:20 PM
> Please respond to
> pdflib@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> To
> pdflib@yahoogroups.com
> cc
>
> Subject
> [pdflib] Embedding Font and Copyright issues
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I would like to embed a PDF core font, e.g. "Courier" in order to
> create a PDF/A conformant PDF file. I understand that, for a PDF core
> font, the font metrics are already built into PDFlib but the font
> outline file has to be explicitly configured with the "FontOutline"
> resource category, e.g.
>
> /*
> p.set_parameter("FontOutline", "Courier=coo______.pfb");
> */
>
> My customers want to distribute PDF/A files with embedded fonts. How
> do I (or they) get a license to embed this font outline file into the
> PDF files?
>
> Regards,
>
> David Fowle
>
> PDFing Home Page: http://www.PDFing.com
>
>
>
>
>
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