Commercial use of fonts and typefaces


Produced in partnership with Jessica Stretch
Practice notes
In-house

Commercial use of fonts and typefaces


Produced in partnership with Jessica Stretch

Practice notes
In-house
imgtext

Typefaces are a key component of a brand’s identity, using a unique typeface helps a business to distinguish itself from its competitors. Many businesses will select or create a typeface to use across print and digital media to help foster consistency and build a recognisable brand.

This Practice Note provides legal and practical advice on fonts and typefaces. It covers the following topics:

  1. •

    Fonts and typefaces—definitions

  2. •

    Fonts and typefaces—intellectual property (IP) rights

  3. •

    Sourcing fonts and typefaces—legal issues, and common licence terms and issues with sourcing fonts and typefaces

Fonts and typefaces—definitions

The distinction between the terms font and typeface is important from a legal point of view (see section on ‘IP protection’ below) but in practice the terms are often used interchangeably.

Typeface

A ‘typeface’ is a set of letters, numbers and characters designed with a specific and consistent style resulting in the appearance of the text. Times New Roman is a well-known typeface.

Font

In a digital context, a ‘font’ is a computer file or program that determines how a letter

Jessica Stretch
Jessica Stretch

Senior IP Counsel

Jessica is senior intellectual property lawyer with over 10 years of experience, advising on all aspects of trade marks, passing off, copyright, designs and domain names. Her practice covers contentious and non-contentious IP with a particular focus on brand clearance, anti-counterfeiting and digital media.

Jessica works as a freelance IP lawyer, primarily with technology companies including eBay and King. She began her career as an IP litigator at Osborne Clarke LLP and Kemp Little, followed by a professional support role at ÀÏ˾»úÎçÒ¹¸£Àû UK.

Read moreRead more
Powered by Lexis+®
Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Intellectual property definition
What does Intellectual property mean?

The trade secrets of an employer that are normally protected as registered trade marks, designs or copyright.

Read more

Popular documents

Collecting societies

Collecting societiesSTOP PRESS—Impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023: This document contains references to retained EU law (REUL) and associated terms introduced by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 in connection with Brexit. From 1 January 2024, REUL that remains in

Copyright infringement—remedies

Copyright infringement—remediesThis Practice Note covers the remedies available for copyright infringement.The remedies available in cases of copyright infringement are the same as those available for all IP right infringement. For further detail, see Practice Note: Civil and criminal remedies for

Copyright—authorship and ownership

Copyright—authorship and ownershipThe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) defines the author of a work as the person who created it. The author as creator is not always the owner of a work, although it is usually the case that they are the first owner of copyright unless employed, in

Copyright—secondary infringement

Copyright—secondary infringementSTOP PRESS—Impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023: This document contains references to retained EU law (REUL) and associated terms introduced by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 in connection with Brexit. From 1 January 2024, REUL that