The design and the file
The typeface is the design: the shapes of ก, ข and every other letter, their proportions and their style. The font is the software that holds those shapes as outlines and the instructions for drawing them: the TTF, OTF or WOFF file you install or put on a website.
In many countries the design itself has little protection. In the United States, copyright does not cover typeface designs as such; the Copyright Office will not register them. The font file, though, is treated as a computer program and is protected like other software. Other countries go further: the United Kingdom protects typefaces as artistic works for a limited period, and in the European Union a typeface can be registered as a design. Thailand’s national fonts were released by the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) and the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) as font programs, under a licence for the software.
The practical upshot is the same everywhere: what you are allowed to do with a font is set by the licence of the file. Redrawing letters by hand from a printed sample is a different matter from copying the file, and legally riskier than it sounds where designs are protected; using the file is what licences are about.
Patents and registered designs
The old title of this page mentioned patents. A few typefaces have been protected by design patents in the United States or by registered designs elsewhere, which cover the look of the letters for a fixed term. It is rare, and no font on this site is known to carry such protection, but it is one more reason to rely on the licence rather than on the idea that letter shapes are always free.
Trademarks and reserved names
A font’s name can be a trademark even when its design is not protected. That is why a licence may let you change a font freely and still forbid you to call the changed version by the original name: the name tells people what they are getting, and a modified font under the same name would mislead them.
The Open Font License builds this in as Reserved Font Names. A designer can list names in the copyright notice; anyone may modify the font, but a modified version must not use a reserved name. On this site, IBM reserves “Plex” for its IBM Plex families, and the DIP/SIPA licence reserves the names of the national fonts. A reduced web version of a font counts as a modified version, which is why the family pages here serve the original files for fonts with reserved names.
The Open Font License, in plain words
The SIL Open Font License 1.1 is the most common open licence for fonts, and 35 of the families listed here use it. You may:
- use the font for anything, personal or commercial: print, logos, video, apps and websites;
- embed it in documents and apps, and host the files on your own site;
- pass the files on to anyone, with the licence;
- change the font, if the changed version stays under the OFL and drops any reserved name.
You may not sell the font files on their own, though you can sell software or a product that includes them. Nothing you make with the font, a book, a poster, a web page, falls under the OFL. The licence’s publishers explain it at length on openfontlicense.org.
The GPL with the font exception
The GNU General Public License was written for software, and on its own it raises an awkward question for fonts: is a document that embeds a GPL font a derivative work, and so under the GPL too? The font exception, a short paragraph added by the font’s authors, answers no: embedding the font in a document or web page does not put that document under the GPL. The 13 families here under the GPL with the font exception, most of them from the Thai Linux Working Group, are free to use in any work.
The GPL still applies to the font files themselves. If you pass them on, or a changed version of them, the recipients must be able to get the source; that is why the TLWG downloads here come with the upstream source package alongside.
The DIP/SIPA licence
Thailand’s national fonts, TH Sarabun PSK and its companions, come with a licence from DIP and SIPA. You may use, copy and share them free of charge, including in commercial work, and embed them in documents and software. You may not sell the fonts on their own. The unusual condition is about changes: anyone who wants to modify one of the fonts must tell DIP and SIPA in writing first, and the modified font may not use the reserved names. Converting a font to another format can count as a change, so the family pages here serve these fonts exactly as published. The licence page has the full text in Thai and English.
The other licences here
Waree uses the Bitstream Vera terms and the Arundina families use the same terms with SIPA named alongside Bitstream: use, copy and share freely, bundle with software you sell, and rename anything you change. Three fonts carry a notice that grants distribution rights only to DIP and SIPA, so we list them with a link to the official source instead of offering the files; the notice page explains why.
What “free” means for commercial work
“Free” on a font site can mean two different things. Free of charge says nothing about what you may do; many fonts offered as free downloads are licensed for personal use only, and using them in a client’s logo or a product needs a paid licence. Free as in open, as with every hosted font on this site, means the licence itself grants you the right to use, share and usually change the font, commercial work included. When a font has no licence file at all, treat it as all rights reserved.
Embedding in documents, apps and websites
- PDFs and documents. Embedding a font so the document displays correctly is allowed by every open licence here. The font files also carry an embedding setting that PDF software reads; open fonts normally allow it.
- Apps and games. Bundling an OFL font in an app is allowed; include the licence text with the app’s other notices.
- Websites. You may host open fonts on your own site. Making a smaller web version (keeping only the characters you need) is a change to the font: fine under the OFL if the font has no reserved name, and something to avoid for fonts with reserved names or under the DIP/SIPA licence. The Thai on the web guide covers the practical side.
Where our licence information is
Every family page names its licence, sums it up and says what you may and may not do. The licences page has a plain summary and the full text of each of the 6 licences in use, and the collection pages group the fonts by licence, starting with the OFL fonts. Every download includes the licence text and the original files.