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
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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.

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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.

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