Is it Legal?
I am starting to get some feedback on Font Burner and the hot topic is whether or not this is legal. The FAQ’s were definitely lacking on this point and it deserves a more robust response. So here it goes.
Font Burner respects the rights of font designers. We love fonts and want to make font designers rich and famous. We also love the internet and want to expand the options for online fonts. There is a balancing act that has to happen that allows growth for online font usage as well as rewarding the hard working people who create fonts. Font Burner is right in the middle of it and unfortunately we won’t be able to please everyone.
Font Burner uses sIFR to render the fonts. Most commercial fonts require that you own a license for any font that you are using with sIFR. There is plenty of gray area in a statement like that, but Font Burner has decided to error on the side of safety and honor the font companies’ wishes. For that reason, all the fonts available on Font Burner right now are copyright free fonts, the majority of which can be downloaded for free at dafont.com. At the launch of Font Burner there were some commercial fonts mixed in by mistake. We apologize for any oversight and if you see any more fonts that you believe shouldn’t be available here please let us know!
The hope is that Font Burner can expand beyond the free fonts and offer commercial fonts eventually with the font designer’s blessing. We are looking for a font company or a font designer that is willing to embrace this technology and give us a thumbs up for use on Font Burner. The exposure and publicity that comes with Font Burner has the potential to be a big boost to anyone who recognizes the advantage of being seen as a leader in this regard.