Adobe Reader comes bundled with an open type version of Minion Pro, Myriad Pro and some other fonts.
What is the license status with these fonts? Can they be used freely?
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6This looks off-topic to me: it's not about TeX directly, and it's not really likely to be covered by the expertise available here. – Joseph Wright May 06 '11 at 09:58
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1Related: http://typophile.com/node/14079 (pointed out by henrique) – doncherry Jun 19 '13 at 17:16
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I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about a legal issue. – Joseph Wright Jan 23 '15 at 22:52
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1A more relevant question has been opened here. – Sverre Jul 24 '15 at 10:50
2 Answers
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The Adobe Reader X EULA applies to fonts distributed with the package. It is specifically said that you may use the software (which includes the fonts) and usage means to access, copy or otherwise benefit from the software.
So if you download the Adobe Reader, you are allowed to use the fonts to typeset a document, include them in the resulting PDF file and print. Reasonably speaking, you may as well redistribute the document as the Adobe Reader including the fonts is freely available.
Harold Cavendish
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@tehingo, the commercial version includes more font types/features (semi-bold versions etc). – pmav99 Dec 16 '11 at 18:15
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3Although I agree with the first part of your answer, that you are allowed to use the font, you second paragraph is I think wrong. It states clearly in
3.3 Distribution. This license does not grant you the right to sublicense or distribute the Software.Even if you can use the font for your documents, you cannot distribute them with the font embedded in them. – ArTourter Mar 22 '12 at 11:18 -
@ArTourter: I am certainly not an expert in these issues, but on Adobe's page about embedding permissions, Myriad and Minion are explicitly named as having full permissions: http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/legal/additional_licenses.html Or does this apply only for the bought versions? – NauC Mar 17 '13 at 19:30
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@NauC No the link you provided only refers to the fonts made available through the adobe fonts. The fonts that come with other Adobe software will follow the license of said software. In the case of Adobe Reader, it is http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/reader/x/eula_en_gb.html – ArTourter Mar 17 '13 at 20:49
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5@ArTourter Thanks for the clarification. But the problem, in my opinion, is that you equate distribution with embedding in a PDF file. Even if you purchase the licence of a font, this doesn't grant you the right to distribute it, while embedding can – e.g. for the fonts specified in my link – be allowed. So as far as I understand it, the section 3.3 that you referenced does not explicitly pertain to font embedding. – NauC Mar 19 '13 at 14:19
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The fonts distributed with Adobe Reader or Adobe Reader font packs has the following license:
The font software contained in this package is being licensed to you solely for use with the Adobe Reader product ("Adobe Reader") subject to the terms and conditions of the Electronic End User License Agreement accompanying the Adobe Reader.
So, short answer is no, you cannot use them for anything else, and the above answer is IMO wrong.
خالد حسني
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3I grepped the
Licence.txtfile that came with my Adobe Reader 9 and didn't find such a paragraph. Where did it came from? – mbork Apr 24 '14 at 23:17 -
While I can find all other quotes on this site in
Reader_11.0.pdfresp.License.htmlI cannot find yours. I'm pretty sure it is at least allowed to embed this font if you don't publish the file e.g. using it in a thesis which won't be published. – Dec 23 '14 at 14:43