A lot of illustration (as bussnies cards, invitations, etc) use sample texts to show the correct use of the illustration and also to make it more attractive for buyers; but this texts are writed with fonts, and sometimes the fonts are copyrighted...

So, can someone explain how to use fonts without having copyrights problems...

Thank you in advance

Correct, don't include the font. Make sure you have a license to use it commercially and make sure you expand the text so it is just outlines.

Hi there! I'm an illustrator who uses fonts a lot, so I can share some of my thoughts with you.

The few most important things to consider are:

1. Always ensure that the fonts you're using are either free for commercial use, or that you have purchased a license to use them. Most free font come with a license document (text file or PDF) - always refer to that if in doubt and keep that file with your font just in case. I personally have a folder where I track all my free for commercial use fonts. Note: Not all websites offering free fonts give you license details up front - it's up to you to check the document that comes with it. Fonts from Losttype.com are wonderful, but some are only good for personal use. Using those very fonts for commercial usage could land you into trouble.

2.  Try to grab your fonts from reputable sources. While Dafont.com is great for fonts that are advertised as free, there's a lot of instances where uploaders use copyrighted work without obtaining licenses themselves, which might get you into trouble in future. It's always good to grab fonts offered by font foundries themselves. Fontsquirrel is another website that does its best to guarantee that its fonts are good for commercial use.

3. Almost all free commercial licenses do not allow for embedding, and very few regular paid licenses allow that. It's very similar to how "extended licenses" are for stock - most font creators charge a much higher amount should you require embedding of fonts in any work. It's a moot point anyways since most agencies don't allow this. If you're using Adobe Illustrator, make "Ctrl + Shift + O" one of those commands you perform at the end of any work - alongside checking for open paths and expanding effects. You should be good then!

Hope this helps.

Dear Davidgoh

Thank you so much for your reply.

I was looking in the net for some information about fonts and free commercial use, and as I can see, this is more complex than it seems.

For example:
I can use fonts licensed under the SIL Open Font License (OFL) and sell the document in microstock??

Because as i can read in wikipedia:

"The License permits covered fonts to be freely embedded in documents under any terms, but it requires that fonts be packaged with software if they are sold."

But in microstock is not allowed add fonts to documents.

Hey there. To my understanding, the embedding of fonts refers to the attachment of the .otf or .ttf file data within an illustration. Which means the recipient of an illustration would be able to take your file and edit the text within it however he likes. Using text, however, and then flattening it does not count as embedding, which is why this is allowed. You aren't "adding" fonts to an illustration - rather, you are using shapes from a font file you possess. This is also why some stock sites do not allow cases where a contributor inputs every glyph of a font file within his illustration, for that is as good as embedding an entire font file.

As for the "SIL Open Font License" that you've mentioned, I think the line "The License permits covered fonts to be freely embedded in documents under any terms, but it requires that fonts be packaged with software if they are sold." only applies when you have chosen to embed the font into a document. Since you would be converting any text data into outlines, you should be able to ignore this instruction of packaging the font with your illustration.

I hope this helps. If anyone else has a much better knowledge of how this works, please chime in too. I've only been doing stock for half a year and my understanding on legalities regarding stock might be limited.