Re: Bitstream Vera Fonts License

[Jim Gettys <jg freedesktop org>]

On 12/06/2011 04:46 AM, Brendan Molloy wrote:
> Hey there,
>
> I am curious as to the provisions limiting the sale of the Font Software
> as defined in the license, which states that it may only be sold within
> a large software package and not alone.
>
> The FAQ states:
> Bitstream is giving away these fonts, but wishes to ensure its
> competitors can't just drop the fonts _as is_ into a font sale system
> and sell them as is.
Here's the history:

Bitstream was kind enough to make the Vera family available; about all
the value they received was the free publicity, attendant on the
Bitstream name. They were the first high quality outline fonts we we got
for the free desktop.

The restriction was to forbid a competitor from dropping the Vera family
into a font sale web site and profiting from something they had given
away (most fonts are sold via web sites), with it's name/trademark
attached.  This was the simplest/least intrusive way to achieve their
aims I could think of.

Since then, there has been a lot of work done on derivative fonts: e.g.
DejaVu; but it's not fair to use Bitstream's trademark on such
derivations (without their permission).
                - Jim

>
> The "as is" part of the above leads me to believe that if the font is
> modified and renamed, that it may be sold as Font Software.
>
> My question, based on the above two statements, is whether or not a
> modified version of the Font Software under a different name than
> "Bitstream Vera" may be sold without being incorporated into a larger
> software package.
>
> Thanks!
>