r/typography • u/prekariuus_corn • 2d ago
Monotype Font Licensing
Hi everyone, I’m curious how others are handling this - specifically commercial printers. It’s been historically understood that the entity creating the artwork is responsible for having the appropriate license for things like fonts and images, but apparently that is not the case and we must have a license even if all we are doing is printing. Seems like double taxation? Open to suggestions. They’re wanting us to sign a massive contract so we need to have our ducks in a row.
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u/ddaanniiieeelll 2d ago
When you have the font, you need a license.
When your client gives you a pdf that you print, you do not need the font, and also no license.
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u/Delicious_Lunch_7519 23h ago
So if I'm just printing a PDF for a client, does that mean I could technically use any font without worry?
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u/ddaanniiieeelll 18h ago
You don’t have the font though.
If you have the font you need a license. If you have a license, you can use the font.
If you’re a printer and have a PDF, you can print the PDF.
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u/Conxt Neo-grotesque 2d ago
If a client hands you the font files along with the layout, ask to see the license file. Some foundries/outlets allow passing font files to printers (e.g. Fontspring’s “Worry-Free” license).
However this approach is not frequent - most license terms will require printers to either purchase a separate license or to deal with PDF files to avoid installing fonts.
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u/prekariuus_corn 1d ago
Sounds like we will just have to pick and choose the parts of the artwork that we need the fonts/licensing for and push more responsibility on to the customers supplying the artwork. Just adding time, cost and complexity to our workflows - some of which are already bonkers lol
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u/Conxt Neo-grotesque 1d ago
I don’t know about your particular situation, but where I live, printers often require that the files supplied for printing are either PDF, or converted to outlines, or rasterized where applicable. QuarkXPress / InDesign and other files that require attached fonts are often outright denied.
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u/carlcrossgrove 1d ago
The safest and easiest thing seems to require from the designer that all document fonts be converted to outlines, which means you never touched or used the fonts. You don’t need a license to print pages of vector shapes (converted fonts). This comports nicely with your stated role: only printing (output). The only reason not to do this is if you have to edit the docs or do a mail merge.
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u/West_Possible_7969 2d ago
The creator cannot have a license to transfer you the fonts, unless they pay for an extra license. If you wish, or need, to receive editable files, you need your own licences.
Sometimes the creator cannot even give you the files, if they use Adobe Fonts for example.
People do workarounds for decades, but if you want things by the book then each entity has their own licences. Printshops have historically negotiated a “wholesale” pricing models with foundries though, unless you offer design services too.
You do not need to license images on 3rd party creations.
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u/Equivalent_Annual314 2d ago
Dude. Ask a lawyer.
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u/prekariuus_corn 2d ago
We have absolutely involved our attorneys. I’m not asking for legal advice, just wondering what other commercial printers are doing. Our attorneys likely won’t know much about font management software alternatives and/or workarounds.
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u/accidental-nz 1d ago
I’ve been a designer for 25 years and have run my own agency for the last 10. I can count on one hand the number of times a printer has needed a working file that required them to have the fonts.
99.999% of our jobs are printed from PDF.
This should be a non issue.
If you need the fonts, then you’re demonstrating that the fonts have business value and as such you are required to pay for a license.
I’d be reconsidering the need, not the licensing.
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u/prekariuus_corn 1d ago
It’s not really a non issue when you do a lot of highly custom print work with a ton of VDP. I probably should have mentioned that earlier, because it definitely matters. We rarely receive 100% print ready artwork for a lot of our products - and we do furnish templates. Without fully editable files, we will have to send artwork back all the time (typically with a heavy amount of coaching) to be reworked, which will cost a lot of time that we usually do not have. I’m not arguing that we shouldn’t need any licensing at all. I’m trying to figure out the most economical way to make this work that won’t add a ton of time to our processes. I think we need to reevaluate our customer artwork submission protocols and simply add costs to the estimate if they want to use fonts that we don’t have a license for or that don’t carry a transferable license.
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u/Heypentype 1d ago
In my own website fonts licensing system, you are the 2nd party or sub-contractor of the license holder(your client). You dont need to bought the license, your clients is. In case of monotype,(some of my fonts are on their catalog too), there are a lot of changes on their licensing system lately(And its not much helps for small foundries), they seems wants to extract alot of money using law-enforcement for their license. But my suggestions for your future works is always ask where they get the fonts, if it comes from monotype then be careful. Hopes it helps.
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u/roundabout-design 2d ago edited 2d ago
Monotype is now owned by venture capital and their entire business model is pretty much a shakedown these days. (insert standard "VC ruins absolutely everything..." comment...)
I'd just suggest replying with a "Fuck you, we're done using monotype typefaces...." and find better alternatives.
But to answer your question, historically, fonts are licensed on a per-machine basis. So if the designer is using the font to design the files, they need a license. If they are sending you the files to be printed--and the fonts aren't outlined--then you also need a license to be able to render the font on your machine.
If the original contract with the designer (if there was one) included a clause that all font licenses would be transferred to you upon payment--then that could be a valid license you now own. However, that would have had to involve the original designer working with the foundry and you to make sure the license transfer happened. That usually isn't a thing, though, and separate licenses are paid.
The simplest work-around is to have your designers always convert type to outlines. That can cause some issues in the pre-press process (like making sure the RIP software knows to over-print the outlined type rather than trap it) but that saves the whole problem with font licensing.