Your Business Received a Font Infringement Letter: What the Law Protects and How to Respond

Last updated: November 2026. Reviewed by Pavel Kolmogorov, California business litigation attorney (State Bar No. 321018).

The shapes of the letters are not protected by copyright. A Copyright Office regulation lists typeface as typeface among works not subject to copyright. (37 C.F.R. § 202.1(e).) Font software can be protected as a computer program, and a font reaches a business as software under a license that may limit where it is used and by how many people. That leaves a font demand two main grounds: breach of the license and infringement of the software. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. represents California businesses that receive these letters.

Call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online to discuss a font demand before you reply or pay.

What the letter is, and what not to do

The letter names a font family, points to your website, app, or packaging, and says no license on file covers that use. It sets a price and a date.

The date is the sender's, not a court's. Three mistakes are still worth avoiding.

• Do not strip the font out and say nothing. Record how it is used first, then change it.
• Do not assume that buying a license today settles the past. A new license covers use going forward unless it says otherwise.
• Do not call the sender to explain how the font got there. Put the response in writing.

Typeface and font software are different things

The Copyright Office lists typeface as typeface among the works that cannot be registered. The same regulation excludes mere variations of typographic ornamentation and lettering. (37 C.F.R. § 202.1(a), (e).)

A font file may be different. The Copyright Act defines a computer program as a set of statements or instructions used in a computer to bring about a certain result. (17 U.S.C. § 101.) A font file that contains original instructions written by its author can be protected on that basis. The owner of a copyright holds the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the work. (17 U.S.C. § 106.) If the file is protected, installing it on more machines than the license allows, loading it on a server, or embedding it in an app can each be a copy.

Whether a particular font file qualifies is a question of fact, and the case law is thin. One federal trial court in California let a copyright claim and a contract claim go forward, at the pleading stage, on allegations that a company copied single-user font files to its servers. In later unreported orders the same court held the designer's registrations invalid. They had been issued for font data, and the evidence showed that a font-design program had generated that data. The copyright claim ended there, while the claim for breach of the license continued. Those orders come from one trial court and bind no other.

For a business holding a demand letter, they point to two questions for the sender. What exactly was registered? And what does the license say?

What the license allows

A font license may be limited by type of use. Examples are desktop use measured by users or computers, web use measured by domains or page views, embedding in an app or product, and server use. Whether a license for one covers another depends on its terms.

How the font reached your company decides which license applies. It may have come with an operating system or a design program, from a web font service, from a theme, from a free-download site, or from an outside designer. If an agency or freelancer supplied it, that vendor's license and your contract with the vendor both matter. Our page on liability for a vendor's infringement covers that situation.

Logos raise a narrower question. A logo saved as an image is a picture of letters, and typeface shapes alone are not protected by copyright. The license may still restrict logo use by contract, so read it before relying on that point.

Breach of license or copyright infringement

A contract claim rests on the license terms your company accepted, itself or through someone acting for it. In California an action on a written contract must be brought within four years, though the license may choose another state's law. (Code Civ. Proc., § 337, subd. (a).)

A copyright claim has conditions of its own. No infringement suit over a United States work may be filed until the work is registered or preregistered, or registration is refused. (17 U.S.C. § 411(a).) Statutory damages and attorney's fees are generally unavailable for infringement that began before registration. (17 U.S.C. § 412.) The suit must be commenced within three years after the claim accrued. (17 U.S.C. § 507(b).) Only the legal or beneficial owner of an exclusive right may bring it. (17 U.S.C. § 501(b).)

Our pages on registration before a lawsuit and software license audit letters explain those rules and when a license overrun is infringement and when it is only a breach.

How to check the claim

1. Identify the font. Get the exact family, version, and file names from your site code, app build, or design files.
2. Map the use. List every place it appears and how it is delivered there: installed, served from your server, called from a font service, or flattened into images.
3. Find the paper. Look for receipts, license files, service subscriptions, and the designer's or agency's invoices.
4. Price the proper license. What the correct license would have cost for the period is a useful reference point in any discussion of money.
5. Ask the sender for its proof: the license it says applies, the registration number and what the registration covers, and its ownership of the rights.

Responding to the demand

A written response goes out through counsel. It states what the company found, asks for the items above, and reserves every defense. If the use was unlicensed, the practical choices are to replace the font or to license it, and either way to resolve the past period in writing. A payment should come with a release that names the company, its affiliates, and the uses covered.

Our page on copyright demand letters covers the general approach, and our page on software copyright covers code claims.

What to bring to the first meeting

• The demand letter and anything sent with it.
• The font files in use and the pages, apps, or products where they appear.
• License files, receipts, and font service account records.
• Contracts and invoices from any designer, agency, or developer who chose the font.
• The date the font first went into use.

Frequently asked questions

A type foundry says our website uses its font without a license and wants $20,000. Is a font even protected?

Partly. The design of the letters is not protected by United States copyright, under 37 C.F.R. § 202.1(e). The font software can be, and the license is a contract that may be enforceable even where no copyright exists. A California business should ask what was registered and which license terms it is said to have broken.

Are fonts copyrighted?

Typeface designs are not. A Copyright Office regulation says applications to register typeface as typeface cannot be entertained. A font file may qualify as a computer program if its instructions contain enough original authorship. One federal trial court in California, in an unreported order, held registrations for font data generated by a design program invalid. For a California business, the answer depends on the file.

Can a company be sued over a font used in its logo?

It can be sued, but the grounds are narrower. A logo that exists only as an image contains letter shapes, which copyright does not protect as typeface, and no copy of the font software. A California company may still face a contract claim if the license it accepted barred logo use, so read the license terms first.

Our web designer picked the font and never told us it needed a license. Are we still responsible for it?

Possibly. The foundry may look to the company whose website serves the font. In California your contract with the designer may require the designer to hold proper licenses or to cover claims, and the designer's own license may extend to your site. Collect the contract and invoices before answering the letter.

How long does a font foundry have to sue?

A copyright claim must be commenced within three years after it accrued, under 17 U.S.C. § 507(b). A claim for breach of a written license has four years in California, under Code of Civil Procedure section 337. An enforceable clause choosing another state's law may change that period.

Talk to a California copyright litigation attorney

If your business has received a font licensing demand, call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. is located in Irvine, California. See also our intellectual property litigation page.

This page provides general information about federal copyright law and California contract law and is not legal advice. Outcomes depend on the license, the registration, the facts of the use, and the court.