OFL FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about the SIL Open Font License (OFL)
Version 1.1-update2 - 23 August 2010
(See http://scripts.sil.org/OFL for updates)


CONTENTS OF THIS FAQ
1  USING AND DISTRIBUTING FONTS LICENSED UNDER THE OFL
2  USING OFL FONTS FOR WEB PAGES AND ONLINE WEBFONT SERVICES
3  MODIFYING OFL-LICENSED FONTS
4  LICENSING YOUR ORIGINAL FONTS UNDER THE OFL
5  CHOOSING RESERVED FONT NAMES
6  ABOUT THE FONTLOG
7  MAKING CONTRIBUTIONS TO OFL PROJECTS
8  ABOUT THE LICENSE ITSELF
9  ABOUT SIL INTERNATIONAL
APPENDIX A - FONTLOG EXAMPLE


1  USING AND DISTRIBUTING FONTS LICENSED UNDER THE OFL

1.1  Can I use the fonts for a book or other print publication?
Yes. You can mention the font and author in the book's colophon if you wish, but that is not required.

1.2  Can the fonts be included with Free/Libre and Open Source Software collections such as GNU/Linux and BSD distributions?
Yes! Fonts licensed under the OFL can be freely included alongside other software under FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) licenses. Since fonts are typically aggregated with, not merged into, existing software, there is little need to be concerned about incompatibility with existing software licenses. You may also repackage the fonts and the accompanying components in a .rpm or .deb package and include them in distribution CD/DVDs and online repositories. (Also see section 5.9 about rebuilding from source.)

1.3  I want to distribute the fonts with my program. Does this mean my program also has to be Free/Libre and Open Source Software?
No. Only the portions based on the Font Software are required to be released under the OFL. The intent of the license is to allow aggregation or bundling with software under restricted licensing as well.

1.4  Can I sell a software package that includes these fonts?
Yes, you can do this with both the Original Version and a Modified Version of the fonts. Examples of bundling made possible by the OFL would include: word processors, design and publishing applications, training and educational software, games and entertainment software, mobile device applications, etc.

1.5  Can I include the fonts on a CD of freeware or commercial fonts?
Yes, as long some other font or software is also on the disk, so the OFL font is not sold by itself.

1.6  Why won't the OFL let me sell the fonts alone?
The intent is to keep people from making money by simply redistributing the fonts. The only people who ought to profit directly from the fonts should be the original authors, and those authors have kindly given up potential direct income to distribute their fonts under the OFL. Please honour and respect their contribution!

1.7  What about sharing OFL fonts with friends on a CD, DVD or USB stick?
You are very welcome to share open fonts with friends, family and colleagues through removable media. Just remember to include the full font package, including any copyright notices and licensing information as available in OFL.txt. In the case where you sell the font, it has to come bundled with software.

1.8  Can I host the fonts on a web site for others to use?
Yes, as long as you make the full font package available. In most cases it may be best to point users to the main site that distributes the Original Version so they always get the most recent stable and complete version. See also discussion of webfonts in Section 2.

1.9  Can I host the fonts on a server for use over our internal network?
Yes. If the fonts are transferred from the server to the client computer by means that allow them to be used even if the computer is no longer attached to the network, the full package (copyright notices, licensing information, etc.) should be included.

1.10  Does the full OFL license text always need to accompany the font?
The only situation in which an OFL font can be distributed without the text of the OFL (either in a separate file or in font metadata), is when a font is embedded in a document or bundled within a program. In the case of metadata included within a font, it is legally sufficient to include only a link to the text of the OFL on http://scripts.sil.org/OFL, but we strongly recommend against this. Most modern font formats include metadata fields that will accept the full OFL text, and full inclusion increases the likelihood that users will understand and properly apply the license.

1.11  What do you mean by 'embedding'? How does that differ from other means of distribution?
By 'embedding' we mean inclusion of the font in a document or file in a way that makes extraction (and redistribution) difficult or clearly discouraged. In many cases the names of embedded fonts might also not be obvious to those reading the document, the font data format might be altered, and only a subset of the font - only the glyphs required for the text - might be included. Any other means of delivering a font to anothCan Font Software released under the OFL be subject to URL-based access restrictions methods or DRM (Digital Rights Management) mechanisms?
Yes, but these issues are out-of-scope for the OFL. The license itself neither encourages their use nor prohibits them since such mechanisms are not implemented in the components of the Font Software but through external software. Such restrictions are put in place for many different purposes corresponding to various usage scenarios. One common example is to limit potenates for your preferred CMS and make them more widely available. Be aware that you can only sell the fonts and your CMS add-on as part of a software bundle. (See 1.4 for details and examples about selling bundles). 

2.6  Some webfont formats and services provide ways of "optimising" the font for a particular website or web application; is that allowed? 
Yes, it is permitted, but remember that these optimised versions are Modified Versions and so must follow OFL requirements like appropriate renaming. Also you need to bear in mind the other important parameters beyond compression, speed and responsiveness: you need to consider the audience of your particular website or web application, as choosing some optimisation parameters may turn out to be less than ideal for them. Subsetting by removing certain glyphs or features may seriously limit functionality of the font in various languages used by your users. It may also introduce degradation of quality in the rendering or specific bugs onto respect trademark laws, but you may add any additional trademarks you claim, officially registered or not. For example if an OFL font called "Foo" contains a notice that "Foo is a trademark of Acme", then if you rename the font to "Bar" when creating a Modified Version, the new trademark notice could say "Foo is a trademark of Acme Inc. - Bar is a trademark of Roadrunner Technologies Ltd.". Trademarks work alongside the OFL and are not subject to the term Versions.

5.7  Are any names (such as the main font name) reserved by default?
No. That is a changes back to the original authors?
It would benefit many people if you contributed back in response to what you've received. Your contributions and improvements to the fonts and other components could be a tremendous help and would encourage others to contribute as well and 'give back'. You will then benefit from other people's contributions as well. Sometimes maintaining your own separate version takes more effort than merging back with the original. Be aware that any contributionsthat review is only applicable to an unmodified OFL. The text of the OFL has been written by SIL (with review and consultation from the community) and is copyright (c) 2005-2010 SIL International. You may re-use the ideas and wording (in part, not in whole) in another non-proprietary license provided that you call your license by another unambiguous name, that you do not use the preamble, that you do not mention SIL and that you clearly present your license as different from the OFL so as not to cause confusion by being too similar to the original. If you fmplex scripts is: http://scripts.sil.org/
Information about this license (and contact information) is at: http://scripts.sil.org/OFL


APPENDIX A - FONTLOG EXAMPLE

Here is an example of the recommended format for a FONTLOG, although other formats are allowed.

-----
FONTLOG for the GlobalFontFamily fonts

This file provides detailed information on the GlobalFontFamily Font Software. This information should be distributed along with the GlobalFontFamily fonts and any derivative works.

Basic Font Information

GlobalFontFamily is a Unicode typeface family that supports all languages that use the Latin script and its variants, and could be expanded to support other scripts.

NewWorldFontFamily is based on the GlobalFontFamily and also supports Greek, Hebrew, Cyrillic and Armenian.

More specifically, this release supports the following Unicode ranges...
This release contains...
Documentation can be found at...
To contribute to the project...

ChangeLog

1 August 2008 (Tom Parker) GlobalFontFamily version 1.2.1
- Tweaked the smart font code (Branch merged with trunk version)
- Provided improved build and debugging environment for smart behaviours

7 February 2007 (Pat Johnson) NewWorldFontFamily Version 1.3
- Added Greek and Cyrillic glyphs

7 March 2006 (Fred Foobar) NewWorldFontFamily Version 1.2
- Tweaked contextual behaviours

1 Feb 2005 (Jane Doe) NewWorldFontFamily Version 1.1
- Improved build script performance and verbosity
- Extended the smart code documentation
- Corrected minor typos in the documentation
- Fixed position of combining inverted breve below (U+032F)
- Added OpenType/Graphite smart code for Armenian
- Added Armenian glyphs (U+0531 -> U+0587) 
- Released as "NewWorldFontFamily"

1 Jan 2005 (Joe Smith) GlobalFontFamily Version 1.0
- Initial release

Acknowledgements

If you make modifications be sure to add your name (N), email (E), web-address (if you have one) (W) and description (D). This list is in alphabetical order.

N: Jane Doe
E: jane@university.edu
W: http://art.university.edu/projects/fonts
D: Contributor - Armenian glyphs and code

N: Fred Foobar
E: fred@foobar.org
W: http://foobar.org
D: Contributor - misc Graphite fixes

N: Pat Johnson
E: pat@fontstudio.org
W: http://pat.fontstudio.org
D: Designer - Greek & Cyrillic glyphs based on Roman design

N: Tom Parker
E: tom@company.com
W: http://www.company.com/tom/projects/fonts
D: Engineer - original smart font code

N: Joe Smith
E: joe@fontstudio.org
W: http://joe.fontstudio.org
D: Designer - original Roman glyphs

Fontstudio.org is an not-for-profit design group whose purpose is...
Foobar.org is a distributed community of developers...
Company.com is a small business who likes to support community designers...
University.edu is a renowed educational institution with a strong design department...
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