Font Licensing for Businesses 2026: A Downloaded Font Is Not a Licensed Font

Quick answer

A font is SOFTWARE, not a picture. The .ttf or .otf file sitting on your designer's machine is a computer program with an owner, a licence agreement and a defined scope of use — exactly like Office or AutoCAD. That is why "I downloaded it from Google so I can do anything with it" and "it came with Windows so it belongs to us" are the two most common wrong assumptions inside Vietnamese companies.

Under Vietnamese law, Article 22(1) of the Intellectual Property Law — in the version now in force under Law 131/2025/QH15, effective 1 April 2026 — states: "Chương trình máy tính được bảo hộ như tác phẩm văn học, dù được thể hiện dưới dạng mã nguồn hay mã máy" (a computer program is protected as a literary work, whether expressed in source code or machine code). The same clause allows a lawful user to make one backup copy *"nhưng không được chuyển giao cho tổ chức, cá nhân khác"* — it may not be handed over to anyone else. So the familiar habit of zipping up the font folder and emailing it to a freelancer or a print shop already sits outside the permission.

Commercially, font licences are not sold as "buy once, use everywhere". MyFonts (a Monotype property) states the industry-standard model openly: a Desktop licence is priced by the NUMBER OF USERS, a webfont licence is priced by monthly pageviews and locked to a single domain, and embedding a font in a mobile app or running it on a server are separate licences you must buy on top.

The pragmatic answer is to treat fonts as a line item in your software asset register. Inventory the fonts on design machines, on the website and in the brand identity; match each one to the correct licence type; move anything of unknown provenance onto open fonts under the SIL Open Font License or buy the right package. Dzo.software advises on inventory and supplies genuine licences with electronic VAT invoices and payment in VND.

The clauses and numbers worth remembering

The six facts below come straight from primary documents — the licence text itself, vendor policy pages and the consolidated text of the law — each with a link so you can check them yourself instead of trusting this article.

• Open does not mean unconditional. The SIL Open Font License 1.1 grants permission *"to use, study, copy, merge, embed, modify, redistribute, and sell modified and unmodified copies of the Font Software"*, then immediately limits it: *"Neither the Font Software nor any of its individual components, in Original or Modified Versions, may be sold by itself."* — openfontlicense.org.
• Breaking a condition voids the licence. Under TERMINATION the OFL says: *"This license becomes null and void if any of the above conditions are not met."* — openfontlicense.org.
• Google Fonts is not one single licence. The official repository states: *"Most of the fonts in the collection use the SIL Open Font License, v1.1. Some fonts use the Apache 2 license. The Ubuntu fonts use the Ubuntu Font License v1.0."* and warns *"It is important to always read the license for every font that you use."* — google/fonts README.
• Fonts that ship with Windows may NOT be uploaded to a web server. Microsoft writes: *"You do not have rights to: copy fonts from a Windows installation to a web server, a process known as web font 'self-hosting'. convert the font to the formats typically associated with web fonts, such as the WOFF or WOFF2 format."* — Microsoft Typography.
• Desktop licences count heads, and cannot be lent. MyFonts: *"Desktop licenses are based on the number of users of the fonts."* and *"Licensed Desktop Users are cumulative, not concurrent… Generally, it is not permitted to 'lend' font licenses."* — MyFonts FAQ.
• Since 1 April 2026 the law addresses fonts delivered AS A SERVICE. Law 131/2025/QH15 amended Article 22(1) of the Intellectual Property Law to add: *"Trường hợp chương trình máy tính được cung cấp dưới dạng dịch vụ hoặc thông qua các nền tảng trực tuyến thì việc tạo bản sao dự phòng thực hiện theo điều khoản sử dụng hoặc thỏa thuận cấp phép giữa các bên"* — where software is supplied as a service or through online platforms, backup copies are governed by the terms of use or the licence agreement between the parties — Law 131/2025/QH15, Article 1(9). For subscription fonts (Adobe Fonts, Monotype Fonts), your rights live in the contract, not in a statutory backup right.
• The current penalty ceiling in Vietnam is VND 500,000,000 for organisations and VND 250,000,000 for individuals under Decree 341/2025/ND-CP, which *"chính thức có hiệu lực thi hành từ ngày 15/02/2026"* (in force from 15 February 2026) — Copyright Office of Vietnam. For the detailed penalty bands see our article on Decree 341/2025/ND-CP.

1. A font is software — and Vietnamese law treats it as software

Every internal argument about fonts starts with one question: what kind of asset is this? Under Vietnamese law the answer is software, and that pulls in the full set of obligations attached to a computer program.

Law 131/2025/QH15, Article 1(9), amending Article 22(1) of the Intellectual Property Law, defines a computer program as *"tập hợp các chỉ dẫn được thể hiện dưới dạng lệnh, mã, lược đồ hoặc dạng khác"* — a set of instructions expressed as commands, code, diagrams or other forms — and confirms it is *"bảo hộ như tác phẩm văn học, dù được thể hiện dưới dạng mã nguồn hay mã máy"*. An OpenType file, with its hinting instructions, glyph substitution tables and Vietnamese diacritic logic, fits that description precisely.

The same clause imposes a limit that very few marketing departments know about: a lawful user may make one backup copy to replace a deleted or damaged one, *"nhưng không được chuyển giao cho tổ chức, cá nhân khác"* — but may not transfer it to another organisation or individual. A backup exists to replace, not to share. Sending the font folder to an agency, a print shop or a contractor is a transfer of a copy.

The most consequential change for the design industry is the sentence Law 131/2025 added to that very clause: *"Trường hợp chương trình máy tính được cung cấp dưới dạng dịch vụ hoặc thông qua các nền tảng trực tuyến thì việc tạo bản sao dự phòng thực hiện theo điều khoản sử dụng hoặc thỏa thuận cấp phép giữa các bên."* Most fonts now arrive by subscription and through online platforms. The message is plain: for font-as-a-service, do not rely on a statutory backup right — read the provider's terms of use, because that is the document deciding what you keep when you stop paying.

Alongside this, Article 14(1) lists the categories of protected works, including point (g) "Tác phẩm mỹ thuật, mỹ thuật ứng dụng" (fine art and applied art works) and point (m) "Chương trình máy tính, sưu tập dữ liệu" (computer programs and data collections). A typeface can therefore touch two layers of protection at once: the letterform design as applied art, the font file as a computer program.

Infringement is defined tersely in Article 28(2): *"Xâm phạm quyền tài sản quy định tại Điều 20 của Luật này"* — infringing the economic rights set out in Article 20. And Article 20(1) lists those rights, including point (c) *"Sao chép trực tiếp hoặc gián tiếp toàn bộ hoặc một phần tác phẩm bằng bất kỳ phương tiện hay hình thức nào"* (reproducing the work, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by any means) and point (d) distribution. Clause 2 requires anyone exploiting those rights to obtain the owner's permission and *"trả tiền bản quyền"* — pay royalties. Installing a font on 12 machines when you licensed 2 users is reproduction under point (c).

A note on which version of the law is in force (read before acting): the text of Article 22(1) quoted above is the version as amended by Law 131/2025/QH15, passed on 10 December 2025, whose Article 2 states: *"Luật này có hiệu lực thi hành từ ngày 01 tháng 4 năm 2026"* (this Law takes effect from 1 April 2026). Articles 14, 20 and 28 are quoted from consolidated text 155/VBHN-VPQH (consolidated up to Law 93/2025/QH15) and are not among the articles amended by Law 131/2025. Even so, this is general information, not legal advice — check the primary text or consult a lawyer before making a legal decision.

2. Five licence types companies routinely under-buy

The most expensive mistake is rarely "using pirated fonts". It is buying the right font under the wrong licence — paying for a Desktop package and then cheerfully using that font on the website, in the app and in the PDF-generating backend, three things the vendor explicitly sells as three different licences.

The industry-standard model is published openly by MyFonts (Monotype). Desktop is the right to install the font on a machine in order to create: *"Desktop licenses are based on the number of users of the fonts."* More importantly, users are counted cumulatively, not concurrently: *"Licensed Desktop Users are cumulative, not concurrent. If you require the desktop license cover additional users after purchase, place a new purchase for the same Desktop product but for the number of additional users."* There is no such thing as "we have 30 staff but only 3 design at any one time, so we bought 3".

A Desktop licence also does not permit handing out the font file, even indirectly: *"However, distribution and embedding of the font is not allowed. Static graphics (i.e., 'flat' images that do not contain embedded fonts) may be distributed, but you may not distribute raw font files or files containing embedded fonts."* That is the line between sending a client a flattened JPG or PNG (fine) and packaging an InDesign job with its Document fonts folder for the printer (not fine, unless the EULA says otherwise).

Webfont is a separate licence, metered by traffic and locked to a domain: *"Webfonts can be used on a single domain. Agencies responsible for multiple websites, for example web design agencies or hosting providers, may not share a single webfont license across multiple websites."* The metering is explicit: *"You get a total number of pageviews that can be used per month… if you purchase 250,000 pageviews per month, when your webpages using the webfonts have been viewed 250,000 times in a single month, you will need to buy the webfont package again for a higher tier of pageviews per month."* One viral campaign can push a company outside its licence without anyone noticing.

App, Electronic Doc and Server cover the rest: embedding the font in mobile application code, periodical electronic publications, and systems where an unlicensed user creates a product — MyFonts describes the last as mandatory for *"sites, web apps, or services that allow a non-licensed user to utilize the font to create a product (for example, personalized t-shirts, PDF receipts, business cards, and pictures with captions, et cetera)"*. Any ERP or e-commerce platform that emits PDF invoices is inside that definition.

If your company already keeps a software register under a software asset management (SAM) practice, adding fonts is just a few extra columns: font name, foundry, licence type, number of users, domain, expiry.

3. Genuinely free fonts, and fonts that only look free

Some fonts really are free for commercial use. Others merely *feel* free because they are already on the machine. Telling the two apart removes roughly 80% of a company's font risk at zero cost.

The genuinely free group is anything released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. The grant is broad: *"Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of the Font Software, to use, study, copy, merge, embed, modify, redistribute, and sell modified and unmodified copies of the Font Software, subject to the following conditions."* Commercial use, PDF embedding, self-hosting, editing the font to improve Vietnamese diacritics — all permitted, provided you keep the conditions.

Those conditions are short but real: (1) the font may not be sold on its own — *"Neither the Font Software nor any of its individual components, in Original or Modified Versions, may be sold by itself"*; (2) every distributed copy must carry the copyright notice and licence; (3) a modified version may not keep a Reserved Font Name — *"No Modified Version of the Font Software may use the Reserved Font Name(s) unless explicit written permission is granted by the corresponding Copyright Holder"*; (4) modified or not, it *"must be distributed entirely under this license, and must not be distributed under any other license"*. And if you breach any of them: *"This license becomes null and void if any of the above conditions are not met."*

One clause that reassures most businesses: the OFL does not reach into the documents you produce — *"The requirement for fonts to remain under this license does not apply to any document created using the Font Software."* That is the fundamental difference from the copyleft worry that usually surfaces in discussions of open source licence compliance.

Most of Google Fonts sits in this group, but the catalogue is not licence-uniform. The official repository states: *"Most of the fonts in the collection use the SIL Open Font License, v1.1. Some fonts use the Apache 2 license. The Ubuntu fonts use the Ubuntu Font License v1.0."* and warns bluntly *"It is important to always read the license for every font that you use."* It also confirms the right to self-host: *"Since all the fonts available here are licensed with permission to redistribute, subject to the license terms, you can self-host using a variety of third-party projects."* — google/fonts README.

The "only looks free" group is the fonts that ship with the operating system. Microsoft is explicit about the limit: *"Apart from the document embedding rights described previously, you may not redistribute the Windows fonts. You may not copy them to other computers or servers, and you may not convert them to other formats, including bitmap formats, or modify them."* What you print, by contrast, is treated generously: *"Unless you are using an application that is specifically licensed for home, student, or non-commercial use, we do not restrict you from selling the things you print and make using the Windows-supplied fonts"*, and *"we do not restrict you from making logos using the Windows-supplied fonts"*.

The dividing line is whether the font file leaves the machine. Naming the font in CSS is entirely legitimate — Microsoft explains that *"as a web page creator you don't even need to be a Windows licensee to include a Windows font name in a CSS font stack, as the 'use' of the font occurs on the Windows device, not on your web server."* Copying that same file onto your server and converting it to WOFF2 is not.

4. Six situations where companies most often slip

Font risk rarely comes from bad intent. It comes from everyday actions nobody thinks of as "distributing software". The six below occur in almost every company with a marketing department.

What they share: each is reproduction or distribution under Article 20(1)(c) and (d) of the Intellectual Property Law, not "borrowing". And because font files sit publicly on a website or inside a delivered package, they leave traces that can be checked from outside the company.

5. A six-step font inventory and remediation process

A font inventory needs no expensive tooling. It needs one disciplined working session, and somewhere durable to record the result so it survives staff turnover.

• Step 1 — List the fonts on creative machines. Export the installed font list from every designer and marketing machine. This is where Desktop licence risk concentrates, because unknown fonts almost always enter the company through this door.
• Step 2 — Audit the website. Open the `@font-face` declarations and the font directory on the server. Every self-hosted font must have an answer to "which licence permits this file to be here?".
• Step 3 — Audit the brand identity. Logo, signage, packaging, contract templates. For logos, MyFonts states a Desktop licence is the minimum and the foundry EULA must be read because *"some restrictions may apply"*.
• Step 4 — Audit the server and application layer. Which services render text without a licensed human behind them? PDF invoices, auto-generated social share images, labelled QR codes — all fall into the Server licence category.
• Step 5 — Classify and decide. Each font lands in one of three buckets: (a) correctly licensed for the right type and headcount — keep; (b) open under the OFL — keep, and store the `OFL.txt` alongside it; (c) unknown provenance — replace with an open equivalent or buy the correct package.
• Step 6 — Record it and schedule a re-check. Capture font name, foundry, licence type, user count, applicable domain, expiry date and where the paperwork lives. Attach the font review to your regular software audit cycle rather than doing it once and forgetting.

The bottom line

Vietnamese companies are used to inventorying Windows, Office and AutoCAD — yet almost nobody inventories fonts, even though fonts sit on those same machines and fall under the same statute.

A font on a company machine only becomes a lawful company asset when there is evidence of the right LICENCE TYPE for the actual USE: Desktop for design machines, Webfont for the website, App for applications, Server for systems that generate files — and a font bundled with Windows is never a licence for the last three.

Dzo.software helps Vietnamese businesses inventory their software assets (fonts included), buy genuine licences from vendors, and receive electronic VAT invoices with payment in VND.

Frequently asked questions

We bought 2 Desktop licences but the font is installed on 10 machines. Is that a problem? Yes. MyFonts is explicit that *"Licensed Desktop Users are cumulative, not concurrent"* — the licence count must cover total users, not simultaneous users. It is also reproduction under Article 20(1)(c) of the Intellectual Property Law.

I send clients a PDF with the font embedded. Do they need their own licence? For commercial fonts, MyFonts draws the line clearly: flattened static graphics may be distributed, but *"you may not distribute raw font files or files containing embedded fonts"* — so a file with the font embedded is still restricted. Read that foundry's EULA; if you need certainty, export with the text converted to outlines.

Is using Times New Roman in our company logo legal? For fonts bundled with Windows, Microsoft says yes: *"we do not restrict you from making logos using the Windows-supplied fonts"* — provided you are not using a version of the software licensed for home, student or non-commercial use only. But that logo gives you no right to copy the font file onto a server or into an app.

Can Google Fonts really be used commercially without limits? Most are OFL, which allows use, modification, embedding and selling whatever you create with them. But the official repository insists *"It is important to always read the license for every font that you use"*, because some fonts use Apache 2 or the Ubuntu Font License, and some carry a Reserved Font Name that stops you keeping the original name after editing.

What is the penalty if unlicensed font use is discovered? Administrative copyright penalties currently follow Decree 341/2025/ND-CP, in force from 15 February 2026, with a ceiling of VND 500 million for organisations and VND 250 million for individuals. For the detailed bands see our article on Decree 341/2025/ND-CP. Beyond administrative fines, the font owner can also pursue a civil damages claim.