I love your fonts, but I can't afford to buy them...

Please understand that typeface designers invest much time, effort and financial resources to develop and produce the original typefaces in the Emigre Fonts library. Emigre licenses all of its fonts from designers who rely on this royalty income to compensate them for their investment of creating these fonts. This makes it impossible for us to send out free fonts and still be able to pay designers a fair royalty. As a fellow designer, we hope that you can appreciate the necessity to compensate designers for their creative efforts.

 
Don't fonts grow on trees?

Typeface designers spend months, even years, developing each design. (A study of typographic history reveals that some designers have actually devoted their entire lives to the conceptualization, manufacture and refinement of a single design!)

If designers are not compensated for their efforts, they will not be able to invest in creating new designs for people like you to enjoy in the future.

Before the age of personal computers, barely more than a decade ago, type designers relied on typesetting equipment manufacturers to fund the development of their designs. Typesetters purchased fonts from the equipment manufacturers and the end users of type, graphic designers and publishers, in turn, compensated the typesetter by paying for the setting of their text.

The personal computer democratized the manufacture, distribution and usage of fonts. For the first time in history, it is the users who must purchase fonts because they have been empowered with the ability to set their own type.

The concept of licensing the usage of fonts is a new one for designers, writers, publishers and other new found font users, but it is a crucially important one if the field of type design is to remain alive.

 
How am I supposed to know where a typeface comes from, and if its shareware?

The first thing you should do is check the readme file that came with the font. The readme should state the name and contact information of the author, as well as the conditions under which it can be used. Absence of a readme file indicates that the font has been tampered with, in which case you should not assume that it is a shareware font.

You can also check the "info" or "about" portions of the font to see if there is any copyright notice, and check for a "Trademark" or "Registered" symbol in font name; this is another way that authors claim ownership. However, the absence of a notice does not signify that the work is public domain, nor is such a notice required by law to retain ownership.

If someone passes the fonts along without the documentation, trouble begins. Even if you get a font through a newsgroup posting, it does not automatically mean it is shareware either. People make mistakes.

So, the test is simple: if you can't tell it is shareware, assume it isn't.

 
What about crediting typefaces?

The anonymity of typeface origins and their designers is an unfortunate situation that has become increasingly detrimental to the field of typeface design.

Before the democratization of type, which resulted from the introduction of personal computer technology, just over a decade ago, there existed an established collection of typefaces that were familiar to graphic designers typesetters, and others who worked with type. The introduction of new typefaces was a slow process that allowed ample time for the type community to become accustomed to the new designs.

Because everyone in the industry could identify typefaces, graphic designers and typesetters had grown accustomed to leaving out credits for the typeface names or typeface designers, although they did credit their own work as well as that of photographers, printers and others whose work was included in the design piece.

Today, typefaces are being introduced into the marketplace faster than any one can keep up with the selection. Therefore giving credit to the typeface names and their designers whenever other design or manufacturing credits are listed, has become necessary for the community's information and education. When you purchase an original typeface, crediting its name and designer is a way of protecting your investment in the font user license. By giving credit, you will help support the acknowledgment of origin and intellectual property rights.

 
What if I don't like some letters in a font of yours, can I change them?

Please understand that we have nothing against experimentation and the customizing of fonts for private use. The problem comes about when such end products are sold and or given away for free, under the guise of "new" designs, and usually without proper credit to their true origins.

The Emigre Fonts license does allow the user to alter the characters in a font as long as the user has purchased the appropriate user license and the altered fonts continue to be used in accordance with this license. In addition, the altered fonts must retain the original Emigre copyright notice.

When you alter a font from the Emigre library, the resulting font(s) will remain the property of Emigre. Legally these adaptations are considered 'derivative works,' and as such they remain the property of their inventor. Others who intend to use your customized fonts will first have to obtain their own licenses of the original fonts from which they are derived.

 
I need a font format that you don't support...

The Emigre Fonts license does allow the user to convert the fonts to other formats as long as the user has purchased the appropriate user license and the converted fonts continue to be used in accordance with this license. In addition, the converted fonts must retain the original Emigre copyright notice.

If your format conversion is to be performed by a third party, simply present the Emigre Fonts user license and proof of registration to the converter to make them aware of the licensing terms and commercial nature of Emigre Fonts software.

In addition we also appreciate it if you inform Emigre of your planned conversion at the time of purchase, so we can track which formats are useful to our customers.

 
Can't I use pieces of your fonts, just like musicians sample music?

Musicians who sample music must get permission and often pay a licensing fee for the sampling. This gives the owner of the music the opportunity to turn down the request, or require a fee for the usage. This also ensures that the original creator will receive credit for their authorship.

If you are interested in sampling Emigre Fonts, we ask that you submit a formal request for the usage.

 
I bought one of your fonts, can't I do whatever I want with it?

The purchase of font software from Emigre, as from most other font manufacturers, entitles the user to make use of the software in accordance with the licensing terms. A font purchase does not entail any transfer of ownership in the software, intellectual property, etc.

 

For more information, see: Various License Options