Font Piracy

[Atomic]

This has all been a very grey area for me. If I use a font, Calibri for example, would I be breaking the law if that font was saved in a Word Document so the end user could view/edit the document?

Also, I wonder how many companies download fonts off the internet and use them in logos, documents and others things without the owner's consent, and even if I do buy a font, how do I know that's not been ripped from another font author?

 

[furnace]

Personal projects; I wouldn't worry about it. Commercial projects; make sure you have full rights.

If you find the person who gave you the rights isn't legally allowed to do so, you will probably find yourself in a position where you have to stop using the font or pay the original author. But I very much doubt they will have a case to sue you for it, as you were given the rights to the font "in good faith" - and you would almost undoubtedly win a case against the person who pretended to give you the rights.

But if that's a real concern, buy fonts from a UK-based website with company registration info or lots of good reviews...

Fonts that come with Windows, Photoshop, etc, you are allowed to do whatever you want with - AFAIK, they come with full rights (apart from resale rights ofc)...

 

[JamesU2005]

Always wondered that especially with Windows fonts.

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[unwashed potato!]

just to make sure, is dafont.com free to use fonts?

 

[furnace]

Most fonts come with an EULA in their .rar file... if they don't have licence info in the archive, and they're listed as "Free", then DaFont have basically allowed you to do what the hell you like with it...

It's probably a good idea to keep a list of where you got fonts from, same with photos, if you're worried about people coming after you for money. Then you can go "But this website let me have it!" and show where you got it from