On 09/19/2009 02:14 PM, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
On 09/19/2009 08:17 PM, Brandon Casey wrote:
I am interested in embedding the Libertine font within an application at work, so that this application can produce documents using the Libertine font. The target systems will not have the Libertine fonts installed. I know I can distribute the font files along side the application, but it would be nice if that was not necessary. The Libertine fonts are licensed as GPL with a font embedding exception. The wording of the exception talks about embedding the fonts in a "document". Would embedding the font within the application (non-gpl) fall under the category of "document", or would the compiled binary now fall under the terms of the GPL (which my employer is not interested in)?
Any help or pointers to the appropriate source (possibly at Redhat) to contact is appreciated.
I am assuming that you are referring to the "libertine" font family, and not the "Liberation" font family.
The "Libertine" font family is dual licensed, available under either the terms of the GPL with font exception or the OFL.
Now, based on what you've said above, I'm assuming that you would like to embed the font into the application, and not simply bundle the font as a separate file to be installed along with the application. At the same time, you do not want the application to be affected by the GPL license of the font.
It is my opinion (and IANAL) that the the GPL font exception would not cover that use case. The OFL seems to be more permissive in this manner, but I think that the application would need to be compatible with the OFL licensing (and should you decide to go down that road, you should retain counsel to determine whether or not that possibility is feasible).
A much cleaner solution would be to bundle the font along with the application (and install it on the target systems), and use it under the terms of the OFL.
See: http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=OFL-FAQ...
Specifically, Question 1.5.
Hope that helps,
~spot