So, in order to protect yourself, it’s best to have an understanding of font copyright laws, how to figure out if your font is allowed to be used, and if necessary, how to purchase the rights to use a font.

However, I do think that going forward, we authors should take care to be compliant, and choose fonts that we can absolutely use. This includes fonts in the book, chapter title, or even on your book cover. The only major court case that I found was against a major company and involved a Harry Potter font. If you use Times New Roman in your print book without a license, the chances of you getting sued are slim.

That means that if an author isn’t careful, they could choose a font from their Word or other writing software, like Times New Roman, that isn’t legally allowed to be put in a print product without an extra paid license.

Some fonts, while free to use personally or in other electronic forms, have extra requirements or copyright rules if you are to put it on a physical product…like a book. Did you know that just because a font came with your computer or Word doesn’t mean you can use it in your physical print book?