Embedding Fonts in an ePUB

[cm_1206]

Can I embed an Adobe font that I legally own into an ePUB using @fontface in css if the license is "editable embedding" (for commercial sale: Amazon, B&N, etc)?

[Caleb_Belohlavek]

Adobe's policy for usage of fonts purchased from Adobe to be used in eBooks:

(For the following formats only)

PDF

ePUB

KF8

ePIB

Adobe’s End User License Agreement (EULA), section 14.7.5 states:

"You may embed copies of the font software into your electronic documents for the purpose of printing and viewing the document."

However, Adobe requires that adequate steps be taken to protect the font(s) against theft when embedded in electronic documents. PDF has long been an approved format for use with fonts purchased from Adobe. Two steps are used in PDF to protect fonts; font obfuscation and font subsetting. Font obfuscation scrambles a part of the font, so that if it is extracted from the document, it will not be operative if installed on a desktop system. Font subsetting removes any glyphs that are not being used in the publication, so that if the font is extracted from the document, the font will not be complete.

We allow usage of Adobe purchased fonts per the following:

 
• 1. PDF: Covered as long as you subset the font.
• 2. ePUB: You may embed fonts in documents delivered in the ePUB format provided you subset and obfuscate the font. The IDPF has a prescribed a methodology for the obfuscation as part of the ePUB 3 specification.
• 3. KF8: We have determined that the KF8 format provides enough protection to serve as a sufficient obfuscation method. Provided you subset the font, you are covered.
• 4. ePIB: Not applicable. Our understanding is that the Nook/ePIB format utilizes fonts from the device and cannot display embedded fonts.

At this time, Adobe has not evaluated other formats, so these are the only formats we have determined to be acceptable at this time, and only then if the correct steps have been taken to assure protection.

Please keep in mind that this response only applies to fonts purchased from Adobe. Any fonts which were purchased from vendors other than Adobe are covered by the vendor’s EULA that came with those fonts. Their rights may be different.

Caleb Belohlavek

Principal Product Manager, Adobe Type

[Caleb_Belohlavek]

A quick clarification.  Dov Isaacs pointed out an error in my previous communication.  While Adobe requires subsetting of fonts for ePUB and KF8, subsetting in PDF is recommended, but not required.  There are a variety of use cases for PDF in which it is important to include the whole font.  My apologies for the miscommunication.

[Annabelle64594479]

This answer is from 2013, we are now in 2014 and I looked in the EULA and it seems that the section 14.7.5 changed.

I want to know if I can use a purchased font in an ePub 3 if it is obfuscated.

[Dennis Whitehead]

When attempting to review my EPUB in Book Proofer for the iBook version, the scan cannot proceed as the file "can't be proofed because it is encrypted. Encrypted EPUBs are not supported."

ENCRYPTED? What's encrypted in the document?

It appears it might have something to do with embedded fonts but I have not idea how or where they're embedded.

The fonts I am using are:

Minion Pro

Palatino (TrueType)

Zapf Dingbats (True Type) (already caused a problem in moving them from Word to InDesign where the starred section breaks changed to circles in EPUB)

Trajan Pro

[Dennis Whitehead]

The answer to my own question lies in deleting the Encryption file nested in the META-INF folder in the EPUB file. But, in the end, for whatever reason, this no longer was necessary.

As I near the finish, I am encountering a typeface SNAFU in the ebook publishing.

I used Trajan Pro to uppercase the first few letters of the opening line of each chapter but as it appears in the iPhone app for Kobo, the Trajan reverts back to the Minion Pro body text and tabs are added between words. It looks fine on the iOS desktop app.

Any thoughts?