SIL Open Font License

The SIL Open Font License (or OFL in short) is one of the major open font licenses, which allows embedding, or "bundling",[4] of the font in commercially sold products.[5]

"Open Font" redirects here. For the Open Font Format, see OpenType.

SIL Open Font License
AuthorSIL International
Latest version1.1
PublishedFebruary 2007
SPDX identifierOFL-1.0, OFL-1.1
Debian FSG compatibleYes[1]
FSF approvedYes[2]
OSI approvedYes[3]
CopyleftYes[2]
Websitehttps://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=OFL

History

SIL International designed the Open Font License for use with many of their Unicode fonts, including Gentium Plus, Charis SIL, and Andika.[6] The license was first released in February 2007, six months after the GPL font exception was released.

Prior to the release of the OFL, the Bitstream Vera fonts had been released in 2003 under most of the same terms and conditions.[7]

Terms

OFL is a free and open source license.[6][8] The license is considered free by the Free Software Foundation, which states that a simple hello world program is enough to satisfy the license's requirement that fonts using the license be distributed with computer software when selling them.[2] The Debian project agrees.[1]

The Open Font License is a free software license, and as such permits the fonts to be used, modified, and distributed freely (so long as the resulting fonts remain under the Open Font License). However, the copyright holder may declare the font's name as being a "Reserved Font Name", which modified versions then cannot bear. (This includes subsetting for web fonts.) 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. Open-source fonts are a popular choice among designers. Most open-source fonts utilize the Open Font License (or OFL) by SIL international. The only stipulation is that anyone cannot charge others to use them.

See also

References
  1. The DFSG and Software Licenses
  2. FSF: Licenses for Fonts
  3. http://opensource.org/licenses/OFL-1.1
  4. Spalinger, Nicolas; Gaultney, Victor (2010-09-19). "Question: 1.15 What about distributing fonts with a document? Within a compressed folder structure? Is it distribution, bundling or embedding?". OFL-FAQ web version (1.1-update5). SIL International. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  5. Garish, Matt; Gylling, Markus (2013). Epub 3 Best Practices (PDF). O’Reilly Media, Inc. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-449-32914-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2019.
  6. SIL Open Font License definition from scripts.sil.org
  7. Final Bitstream Vera Fonts license
  8. "Open Source License Comparison Grid" (PDF). CMU. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2019.


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