Unlicensed fonts spell trouble for firms

Many organisations face legal dangers because the fonts used within their business are not properly licensed.

Julie Strawson, European marketing director at font licensing firm Monotype, said this week that many IT directors are ignoring the scale of the problem and their firms risk substantial financial penalties as a result.

"Fonts represent hidden liabilities and most organisations are in denial that it is an issue," she said. "We've found, even in non-creative industries that firms can have upwards of 1,000 unlicensed fonts."

Strawson added that with fonts proving a valuable part of many firms' brands and the internet making it easy to distribute fonts without proper licenses, font producers are increasingly pursuing firms that fail to license their creations. "We have settled out of court for substantial sums on numerous occasions with companies that have been using our fonts without licenses," she said. "Many of them are household names."

But even firms that do have licences face legal risks if they breach the conditions of those licences, according to Strawson. "Microsoft Office has 300 font licences included," she said. "But the licence means you can only use them in Microsoft applications. If you take the fonts to use in other apps, as many firms do, you are breaking the licensing agreement."

Monotype has attempted to tackle the problem by developing a font-licence management suite called Fontwise. The client server-based font-discovery tool tracks fonts within a network, generates a web-based database that notifies users where fonts are required or where there are too many, and allows them to delete unlicensed fonts from the system, according to the company.

Strawson said firms that have deployed the system have found it easier to eliminate unlicensed fonts and have saved money by removing unused licences and reducing the number of calls to the helpdesk. "A lot of the problems people have opening documents are down to fonts, so if you manage them properly calls to helpdesks fall," she explained.

Monotype will enhance the usability of its suite in an updated version due in September, Strawson said. It is also planning to ultimately tighten integration between the toolset and other software asset-management systems on the market.