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Unintended Consequences of Using GPL Fonts

Posted by timothy on from the say-what-now dept.

innocent_white_lamb writes "An interesting discussion has surfaced on the Scribus mailing list. Simply stated, it appears that using GPL-licensed fonts in a document makes your document subject to the GPL. There are a lot of consequences here, such as internal corporate communications. It appears to make the use of GPL fonts undesirable in almost any document." Yes, it sounds crazy, but the experimental font-exception addition to the GPL (linked from the discussion) lends the idea some credence.

2 of 514 comments (clear)

  1. Seems a little silly to me. by Future+Man+3000 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Just my opinion, but a document isn't a program, and when you distribute a document you are ipso fatso distributing the source (or everything you need to "compile and run" the document.)

    While I would like to see clarification, this seems like an attack on the GPL...

    --

    I never vote for anyone. I always vote against.
    -- W.C. Fields

  2. Doesn't make sense by TelJanin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Using a GPL-ed font in a document would be just like using a GPL-ed IDE, I would think. Why would the license of the tools affect the license of the finished product?