Are Your Web Fonts Legal? A Guide to Font Licensing for WordPress Agencies

Fonts have a huge influence on a WordPress site’s usability, accessibility, and brand identity. That’s why font selection is one of the first decisions designers make. But in making that decision, they can put their agency and its clients in a legal minefield.

Font files come with a license that limits how they can be used, who is entitled to use them, where they can be hosted, and numerous other restrictions. Breaking font licensing rules can be costly, with legal settlements far exceeding the original licensing costs.

In 2004, Red Hat was forced to settle a lawsuit for $500,000 brought by the Agfa Monotype foundry after it bundled unlicensed fonts with its CDs. NBC was sued in 2010 by Font Bureau for misuse of its fonts, eventually settling for $2 million. Nike was recently sued for allegedly misusing Production Type’s fonts in videos and websites, despite having only paid for desktop licenses. 

In this article, we’ll explore font licensing rules, why agencies should care about them, and best practices to help your agency avoid expensive font licensing violations.

Why WordPress Agencies Should Care About Font Licensing

Font files are software, and the copyright protection that applies to code applies to font files too. Agencies that select, embed, or distribute fonts can be held responsible if they use them without the proper license.

Most font End-User License Agreements (EULAs) define the “user” as the party implementing the software. In agency projects, that’s usually the agency, not the client. Even if your contract shifts responsibility to the client, copyright holders can still pursue you for infringement. It’s common for both the agency and client to be named in a lawsuit, with the agency seen as the primary actor.

Misuse happens in ways that are easy to overlook: bundling pirated or demo fonts into themes, converting desktop fonts for web use without permission, exceeding page-view limits, or including unlicensed fonts in brand assets like email templates or logos. Agencies that assume one license covers all uses expose themselves to legal risk.

A font license may also prohibit transferring the font software between parties. That means an agency cannot simply give font files to its client. The client must obtain their own license or download the software themselves under a valid agreement.

Font license cases are so common and lucrative that “license enforcement” bots scour the web for violations. If your agency accidentally misuses font files with a restrictive license, there’s a good chance the violation will be discovered and the font’s owner will initiate legal action. 

A Font Licensing Checklist For WordPress Agencies

Font licensing mistakes are easy to make, but they can be expensive and embarrassing to fix. You can reduce the risk by building font compliance into your WordPress development workflow.;

• Inventory every font used across the site. This includes fonts embedded in themes, used by plugins, included in design files, and incorporated into static assets like PDFs or email templates.
• Locate the licenses or purchase new ones in the client’s name. Agencies may implement fonts on a client’s behalf, but the end-user of the license should typically be the website owner. If the license allows, list your agency as the developer or authorized implementer.
• Verify license limits. Webfont licenses often include restrictions based on page views, domains, seats, or traffic tiers. Confirm that the license covers expected site traffic for at least 12 months. If the font is sourced from a subscription, ensure the client holds an active account.
• Document license evidence in the project hand-off. Keep a copy of purchase receipts, EULAs, and traffic limits in your internal asset register. This protects you during future audits and handovers.
• Delete or replace trial and demo fonts before launch. Never rely on preview fonts in production. Fonts bundled with design software or downloaded from foundry test pages must be licensed before use.
• Track changes and use font management software. Tools like FontBase or RightFont can help you to track licenses and usage. 

You should also keep a change log of font updates. Swapping files or upgrading weights may trigger a fresh license requirement under some EULAs.

Open-Source Fonts and GDPR-Safe Alternatives for WordPress

One way to side-step many font licensing issues is to use open-source fonts. In the past, these have been of mixed quality, but in recent years, several high-quality font families have been released under permissive open-source licenses, such as the SIL Open Font License (OFL) or Apache 2.0.

These fonts can be embedded, modified, self-hosted, and redistributed without needing separate commercial agreements.

• Inter: A clean, legible sans-serif designed for interfaces. It is optimized for screen display and widely adopted in UI projects.
• IBM Plex: A large family with Sans, Serif, Mono, and Condensed variants.
• Source Sans and Source Serif: A family of open-source typefaces from Adobe. 
• Libre Franklin and Libre Baskerville: Modern updates of classic designs that can be useful for replacing legacy fonts in redesigns.
• Recursive: A five-axis variable font that adapts between monospace and proportional or casual and formal styles in a single file.

Open-source fonts are also a straightforward solution to another font headache agencies have recently faced: GDPR concerns associated with externally hosted fonts. In 2022, a German court ruled that serving Google Fonts from Google’s CDN without user consent violated GDPR by transmitting IP addresses to a third party. 

Since then, thousands of site operators across the EU have received warning letters and fines. Hosting open-source fonts on the client’s server eliminates third-party data exposure.

• Self-host fonts using @font-face declarations and local files.
• Use plugins like OMGF or Local Google Fonts to automatically rewrite font URLs and download files for compliant local use.
• Always retain the original license file when distributing or modifying fonts, as required by the OFL and other open licenses.

Standardizing on open-source fonts helps agencies to simplify license management, reduce client risk, and future-proof their projects.

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Kevin MacGillivray

Kevin MacGillivray is the Chief Marketing Officer at Pressable, where he’s focused on helping more creators build fast, secure, and successful WordPress sites. He’s driven to grow Pressable’s impact and make it the go-to choice for more businesses. Kevin enjoys making technology feel simple, useful, and inspiring through clear storytelling, creative experiments, and building new ways for the community to connect and thrive. Kevin lives in Victoria, British Columbia, where you’ll often find him swimming in the ocean, exploring local trails with his dog, Minerva, or embracing the West Coast’s vibrant lifestyle and easy rhythm.