Font license consistency

[Diego Puentes]

I noticed that the font license for commercial fonts are not consistent across resellers and font foundries. I compared the license for a certain font at: MyFonts, Fontspring, Creative Market and direct from the foundry and the language is not consistent and some of the resellers (like Creative Market) are more restrictive. 

 

My question is:

1) Why are they not consistent?

2) Can resellers and foundries amend the license after we purchase a font after the fact?

[Ralf Herrmann]

2 minutes ago, Diego Puentes said:

1) Why are they not consistent?

It’s a free market and vendors choose their conditions freely, based on their own goals, circumstances and ethics.  

2 minutes ago, Diego Puentes said:

2) Can resellers and foundries amend the license after we purchase a font after the fact?

No. Once you “buy a font”, you enter into a license agreement and it becomes a binding contract for both parties. That’s why it is always recommended to download the EULA along with the fonts and store it somewhere you can always find it again. People often think about the  EULA as the document where the usage gets restricted, but more importantly, it’s the written agreement of what you CAN do with the font. And you can rely on that. 

[Diego Puentes]

Ralf,

That is good advice about downloading and keeping a copy of the original license agreement. But, sometimes over time you forget where you stored it if it was a download. I recently looked at some font licenses from fonts I purchased close to 20 years ago at MyFonts. Their site allows you to see your past purchases and the ability to re-download the font, receipt and the license. Some of the licenses appear to have been updated since the purchase date. A good reason to keep those license agreements in a safe place.

Thanks!

[Diego Puentes]

I wanted to follow up on a comment I made in my first post that was incorrect:

"I noticed that the font license for commercial fonts are not consistent across resellers and font foundries. I compared the license for a certain font at: MyFonts, Fontspring, Creative Market and direct from the foundry and the language is not consistent and some of the resellers (like Creative Market) are more restrictive."

I was incorrect when I wrote: "... some of the resellers (like Creative Market) are more restrictive.".

Creative Market has standardized their font licenses. I think I got them confused with another vendor.

(I DO NOT WORK FOR CREATIVE MARKET. I just buy a lot of fonts)