This article explains the thinking behind our licensing model.
Related guides: Licensing Guide and Guide to Nortype License Types. The full legal terms are set out in the EULA.
Norsk versjon: Slik fungerer Nortype sin lisensmodell.
Our licensing model is based on a simple principle: choose the License Owner according to who the typeface will represent.
When a typeface is used in a company’s visual identity, website, campaign, app, social media, printed material or other communication, it becomes part of how that company appears in the world.
For that reason, the license must be purchased for the person, company, organisation or institution represented by the typeface.
The License Owner is the person, company, organisation or institution legally responsible for the brand, project, communication, products, services, website, app, campaign or material represented by the typeface.
If the typeface will represent your own brand or project, the License Owner is the person, company or organisation legally responsible for that brand or project.
If a designer, agency, developer, employee or procurement person buys the license for a client, the client is the License Owner.
A brand may have its own name and identity, but the license is connected to the person, company or organisation behind that brand.
This means the license follows the company or organisation represented by the typeface, not the person who happens to buy, install or handle the font files.
A standard license covers one License Owner and one brand.
For most customers, this is simply the company, organisation, project or brand entered as the License Owner.
If a company owns several brands, one license does not automatically cover all of them. The company may be the License Owner, while the license applies to the one brand the typeface is used for.
If the typeface will be used for several brands, sub-brands, product brands, campaign brands, affiliated brands or other distinct identities, contact us before purchasing.
A small organisation and a large organisation can use the same typeface, but the typeface does not play the same role in both cases.
In a larger organisation, the typeface usually has a larger job to do. It may appear across more material, reach more people, and become part of a broader public presence.
This is why our license pricing is based on the size of the License Owner.
We do not count how many people install the fonts. We look at the size of the organisation the typeface represents.
Employee count is not a count of individual font users. It is a measure of organisational scale. The price tiers are built around that measure, rather than around individual installations or seats.
Modern design work often involves internal teams, external agencies, freelancers, developers, production partners and other collaborators. Files move between tools, systems and people, while the typeface continues to represent the same company or brand.
Counting installations does not describe how much work the typeface is doing for the organisation. The more relevant question is who the typeface represents.
Company size decides the price tier. Use decides the license type.
A license for making static design material is different from a license for a website, social media, video, an app, a logo or wordmark, advertising, signage, software, merchandise, packaging or broader enterprise use.
This keeps the model simple without treating every use as the same. The size of the organisation tells us who the typeface represents. The license type tells us where and how the typeface will be used.
Designers, agencies, developers, printers and other suppliers often need access to font files in order to carry out work for a client.
That is part of normal design work. But access to the font files does not give those suppliers their own license. They may use the fonts only for the licensed work they are doing for the License Owner.
A license for one client cannot be used for another client, another brand or the supplier’s own work.
Finished files are different from font files.
A designer may send a client, printer, developer or production partner finished PDFs, images, video files, print files, outlined artwork or other finished output. That is not the same as giving someone reusable font software.
This distinction makes it possible to work normally with collaborators, while keeping the font license connected to the company or brand the typeface represents.
Some projects are too broad or complex for a single standard license.
If the typeface will be used across several license types, brands, legal entities, media categories, platforms, territories, suppliers or high-exposure environments, an Enterprise / Unlimited Media License may be the clearest way to cover the use.
Contact us if the intended use is broad, mixed, unusual or difficult to place in one category.
Choosing the right license comes down to three questions:
The first question decides who the license must be purchased for. The second decides the price tier. The third decides which license type is needed.
For practical instructions, use our Licensing Guide. For a detailed overview of each license type, read Guide to Nortype License Types. For the full legal terms, see the EULA.