[XeTeX] Arial and Times New Roman license?

[Adam Twardoch (List)]

Kārlis,

Microsoft at some point in the past did publish a set of "core fonts"
(Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, Trebuchet, Verdana, Georgia -- in
one particular version) with a EULA that permitted a very specific
distribution: one was allowed to distribute the original .exe archives
that were self-extracting Windows files containing .cab files which in
turn contained the fonts.

Microsoft had since removed those fonts from their hosting service, but,
since the EULA permitted it, the opensource people have hosted them at
http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/

Most Linux vendors have created installers that extract these fonts from
the EXE+CAB archives. This means, however, that the extracted .ttf files
may not be distributed. They also may not be modified etc.

They are closed-source packages with a very limited right of
distribution which only applies to that particular version of the fonts.
I must admit that I was somewhat surprised: many opensource vendors are
known for bashing Microsoft and labeling it "an evil company", but if
Microsoft publishes some quality fonts with a permission to distribute,
all the vendors jump on it like mice onto a piece of cheese, rather than
investing in developing quality fonts themselves.

I consider this moral relativism, but what do I know :)

Best,
Adam

Kārlis Repsons wrote:
> People,
> looking with otfinfo at the files of those fonts (which eneded up in my Linux 
> without requiring me to accept anything) show me what is in the attachment. 
> Among other things it states: "You may not copy or distribute this software"! 
> But I'm not sure what is the real, effective license of it? Monotype Imaging 
> Inc. EULA as found at http://www.fonts.com/Legal/EOT_Eula.htm? (the provided 
> license URL is dead).
> 
> So what is it, do I really have font distributed with Linux or through some 
> package management system, which explicitly says, it can't be distributed?!
> 


-- 

Adam Twardoch
| Language Typography Unicode Fonts OpenType
| twardoch.com | silesian.com | fontlab.net

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