如果我们在itext中使用ttf文件，是否需要获得字体许可证？ [英] Does one need to have a license for fonts if we are using ttf files in itext?

问题描述

据我所知，itext没有任何字体库，你需要提供字体库。
一旦生成了pdf，Acrobat就会查看pdf，并假定它是标准字体，Adobe将会支持它。
我的问题是关于字体的授权。 a）我需要获得iText使用的字体的许可证吗？例如，如果我使用Arial，最常用的字体之一，是不是免费的，我需要购买字体？

如果我使用任何特殊的字体，例如STSONG.ttf，对于中文字符，我是否需要获得许可证？

有一个一般问题，我们发现旧版本只允许打印和预览嵌入，而可编辑嵌入仅允许版本1.00和更高。你应该检查你打算使用的每种字体的属性。

如果你需要一个可以分发的字体，你应该寻找一个替代字体，打开字体许可证。我在沙箱的示例中使用了FreeSans，但还有其他免费替代品。

I understand that itext does not come with any of the font libraries and you need to provide the font library . The pdf once generated, will be viewed by Acrobat and assuming , it is the standard fonts, adobe would have support for it. My questions is about licensing of the fonts.

a) Do I need to have a license of the fonts which I am using in iText ? For eg if I am using Arial, one of the most commonly used font and which is not free, do I need to purchase the font ?

b) If I using any specific font for eg STSONG.ttf , for Chinese characters, do I need to have a license for this ?

解决方案

There is a general question How to use web-fonts legally? on StackOverflow that was closed as off-topic, yet some answers are interesting.

Just like all software (including iText), fonts are licensed, but there are different types of licenses.

• You have fonts that have an open font license like SIL which is the first that comes to mind, but there are many other licenses that allow you to use a font completely for free. Caveat: be careful with "free" fonts on the web. Many are just copies of protected fonts with their copyright notices removed.
• You have fonts that are proprietary in the sense that you can not redistribute them, but they allow you to embed the font in documents. For instance: the fonts that ship with MS Windows are proprietary. You are not allowed to copy them and ship them for free, however some fonts may be embedded within document files. Embedding allows fonts to travel with documents. Embedded fonts can only be used to print, preview and in some cases edit the document in which they are embedded. (See Font redistribution and license issues in Microsoft's FAQ)
• Some fonts require a full (paid) license even if you want to embed them. If I remember correctly, the fonts you can download as a font pack for Adobe Acrobat/Reader can only be used in the context of Acrobat. You are not allowed to embed them in a document using software that is not sold by Adobe.

I have different font examples in the sandbox and for every font I use, I look at the corresponding license. If you check the overview, you'll see that I have fonts with a SIL license, an Apache license, and so on... I don't know about STSONG.ttf, so you'll have to check which license applies.

You were also asking explicitly about Arial. Arial was created for the Monotype Imaging Corporation. The Monotype Imaging EULA states:

You may embed the Font Software only into an electronic document that (i) is not a Commercial Product, (ii) is distributed in a secure format that does not permit the extraction of the embedded Font Software, and (iii) in the case where a recipient of an electronic document is able to Use the Font Software for editing, only if the recipient of such document is within your Licensed Unit.

However, you probably didn't obtain the font from Monotype. It was probably shipped with your legal copy of Microsoft Windows, and Monotype may have licensed its fonts to Windows under a license that is less strict.

Let's check which license applies by right clicking a font file such as arial.ttf in C:\windows\fonts and let's inspect the Properties:

I am in luck: in my case, the Font embeddability says "Editable". This means that I can embed the font in a document not only to print and (pre)view the document, but also to edit the document (e.g. edit form fields) as long as I use arial.ttf in the context of the Windows license that I bought. I can not copy arial.ttf to another computer.

Note that you shouldn't assume that was always the case. For instance if we look at Arial Unicode, we see that older versions only allowed print and preview embedding, whereas editable embedding was allowed only for version 1.00 and higher. You should really check the properties of each font you are planning to use.

If you need a font that can be distributed, you should look for an alternative font that has an open font license. I use FreeSans in the sandbox examples, but there are other free alternatives.

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