Bitstream Vera License

Bitstream Vera Fonts Copyright

The fonts have a generous copyright, allowing derivative works (as long as "Bitstream" or "Vera" are not in the names), and full redistribution (so long as they are not *sold* by themselves). They can be be bundled, redistributed and sold with any software.

The fonts are distributed under the following copyright:

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of the fonts accompanying this license ("Fonts") and associated documentation files (the "Font Software"), to reproduce and distribute the Font Software, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, merge, publish, distribute, and/or sell copies of the Font Software, and to permit persons to whom the Font Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright and trademark notices and this permission notice shall be included in all copies of one or more of the Font Software typefaces.

The Font Software may be modified, altered, or added to, and in particular the designs of glyphs or characters in the Fonts may be modified and additional glyphs or characters may be added to the Fonts, only if the fonts are renamed to names not containing either the words "Bitstream" or the word "Vera".

This License becomes null and void to the extent applicable to Fonts or Font Software that has been modified and is distributed under the "Bitstream Vera" names.

The Font Software may be sold as part of a larger software package but no copy of one or more of the Font Software typefaces may be sold by itself.

THE FONT SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT, PATENT, TRADEMARK, OR OTHER RIGHT. IN NO EVENT SHALL BITSTREAM OR THE GNOME FOUNDATION BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE FONT SOFTWARE OR FROM OTHER DEALINGS IN THE FONT SOFTWARE.

Except as contained in this notice, the names of Gnome, the Gnome Foundation, and Bitstream Inc., shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in this Font Software without prior written authorization from the Gnome Foundation or Bitstream Inc., respectively. For further information, contact: fonts at gnome dot org.

I don't understand the resale restriction... What gives?

Bitstream is giving away these fonts, but wishes to ensure its competitors can't just drop the fonts as is into a font sale system and sell them as is. It seems fair that if Bitstream can't make money from the Bitstream Vera fonts, their competitors should not be able to do so either. You can sell the fonts as part of any software package, however.
I want to package these fonts separately for distribution and sale as part of a larger software package or system. Can I do so?

Yes. A RPM or Debian package is a "larger software package" to begin with, and you aren't selling them independently by themselves. See 1. above.
Are derivative works allowed?

Yes!
Can I change or add to the font(s)?

Yes, but you must change the name(s) of the font(s).
Under what terms are derivative works allowed?

You must change the name(s) of the fonts. This is to ensure the quality of the fonts, both to protect Bitstream and Gnome. We want to ensure that if an application has opened a font specifically of these names, it gets what it expects (though of course, using fontconfig, substitutions could still could have occurred during font opening). You must include the Bitstream copyright. Additional copyrights can be added, as per copyright law. Happy Font Hacking!
If I have improvements for Bitstream Vera, is it possible they might get adopted in future versions?

Yes. The contract between the Gnome Foundation and Bitstream has provisions for working with Bitstream to ensure quality additions to the Bitstream Vera font family. Please contact us if you have such additions. Note, that in general, we will want such additions for the entire family, not just a single font, and that you'll have to keep both Gnome and Jim Lyles, Vera's designer, happy! To make sense to add glyphs to the font, they must be stylistically in keeping with Vera's design. Vera cannot become a "ransom note" font. Jim Lyles will be providing a document describing the design elements used in Vera, as a guide and aid for people interested in contributing to Vera.
I want to sell a software package that uses these fonts: Can I do so?

Sure. Bundle the fonts with your software and sell your software with the fonts. That is the intent of the copyright.
If applications have built the names "Bitstream Vera" into them, can I override this somehow to use fonts of my choosing?

This depends on exact details of the software. Most open source systems and software (e.g., Gnome, KDE, etc.) are now converting to use fontconfig (see www.fontconfig.org) to handle font configuration, selection and substitution; it has provisions for overriding font names and substituting alternatives. An example is provided by the supplied local.conf file, which chooses the family Bitstream Vera for "sans", "serif" and "monospace". Other software (e.g., the XFree86 core server) has other mechanisms for font substitution.