I'm trying to find out whether or not the font Avenir can be used for logo design when a desktop license is purchased. I'm finding it difficult to interpret the EULA. http://www.myfonts.com/viewlicense?lid=1444
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Answer
Update
I contacted Monotype, since the EULA you linked to was theirs. Here are the relevant quotes (these were two responses to questions I had):
Yes, any font under the Monotype EULA can be used to create a logo for printed material or as a static graphic image.
and
Yes once the font is outlined, you are able to make changes to it.
The static just means that it is an image, for example on the website where the font is not embedded
Hope all of this helps you!
Original Answer
I am not a lawyer and such; this is not legal advice. Definitely contact Monotype if you want to be sure.
My understanding of fonts in the eyes of the law (at least in the US) is that they're treated as software. So when you think of how to use your font, try to think of it in software terms. For example, Avenir is like Word, and a logo is kind of like a Word doc. I can freely make Word docs and distribute them, but I can't distribute Word with the doc so that someone else can edit the file. They need their own copy.
So typically, anytime you convert a font to a raster or outlines, it's not really a font anymore; it's a blob of pixels or an outline. That leaves Monotype's realm of providing font software and enters into the realm of copyright infringement, which is a different arena.
And really, that's just an example of the font being used as you'd expect a font to be used.
See section 3 of the license you linked to:
You may embed the Font Software only into an electronic document that (i) is not a Commercial Product, (ii) is distributed in a secure format that does not permit the extraction of the embedded Font Software, and (iii) in the case where a recipient of an electronic document is able to Use the Font Software for editing, only if the recipient of such document is within your Licensed Unit.
You may embed static graphic images into an electronic document, including a Commercial Product, (for example, a “gif”) with a representation of a typeface and typographic design or ornament created with the Font Software as long as such images are not used as a replacement for Font Software, i.e. as long as the representations do not correspond to individual glyphs of the Font Software and may not be individually addressed by the document to render such designs and ornaments.
The first paragraph is addressing the kind of situation where a font can be embedded in a PDF or a PowerPoint or something like that, and it's saying that if you're selling your comic book as a PDF and you send Avenir along embedded in the file, that's not allowed. But if you're selling a physical comic book and you send a receipt as a PDF, you can embed Avenir (see the "Commericial Product" description definition in section 13). However, your receipt PDF has to be made in such a way that the customer can't edit the file or pull Avenir out without having a license of his own.
The second paragraph is a lot more unclear to me, but I think it's saying that if you place static images (rasters, outlined fonts) in a PDF, that's okay. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think this sort of thing would be applicable if you made a static image of all the glyphs and used it as you would a CSS sprite to render text.
That "Derivative Works" part in section 9 sounds scary, but I think it's referring to derivative works of the font file, not things like taking a font, outlining some glyphs, and altering those glyphs to create a logo. If you altered those glyphs and put them back into a font file that might get you in trouble, though.
To succinctly answer your question: I think you can. I would be very surprised if you could not. Also, this EULA is dense and Monotype should be better at explaining their terms. I contacted someone there; maybe we'll get some help!
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