The SIL Open Font License (or OFL in short) is one of the major open font licenses, which allows embedding, or "bundling", of the font in commercially sold products.
OFL is a
free and
open source license
An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users and commercial comp ...
.
It was created by
SIL International, the organization behind ''
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...
.''
History
The Open Font License was created by SIL International employees Victor Gaultney and Nicolas Spalinger.
Gaultney had previously designed the
Gentium
Gentium (, from the Latin for "of the nations") is a Unicode serif typeface designed by Victor Gaultney. Gentium fonts are free and open source software, and are released under the SIL Open Font License (OFL), which permits modification and red ...
font and was unsatisfied with existing font licenses.
The Open Font License was designed for use with many of SIL's
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
fonts, including
Gentium Plus,
Charis SIL
Charis SIL is a transitional serif typeface developed by SIL International based on Bitstream Charter, one of the first fonts designed for laser printers. The font offers four family members: roman, bold, italic, and bold italic.
Its design goal ...
, and
Andika.
The license was in a "public review" stage between 2005 and 2007
and version 1.1 was published in February 2007.
Prior to the release of the OFL, the
Bitstream Vera fonts had been released in 2003 under most of the same terms and conditions.
Open-source fonts are a popular choice among designers, and most open-source fonts utilize the Open Font License. For example, it was used to license a font made by the US government.
Terms
The Open Font License is a free software license, and as such permits the fonts to be used, modified, and distributed freely (so long as the resulting fonts remain under the Open Font License). However, the copyright holder may declare the font's name as being a "Reserved Font Name", which modified versions then cannot bear. (This includes subsetting for web fonts.) The license permits covered fonts to be freely embedded in documents under any terms. The only stipulation is that fonts cannot be sold on their own, though they may be included in software bundles for sale.
The license is considered free by the
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft ( ...
(FSF)
[FSF: Licenses for Fonts – SIL Open Font License 1.1](_blank)
/ref> and the Debian project.
See also
* GPL font exception
* Ubuntu Font License
References
External links
SIL Open Font License version 1.1
SIL Open Font License FAQ
Linux.com: SIL Open Font License revised
Free and open-source software licenses
Copyleft software licenses
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