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2026

Bitstream Vera Font License

Also known as Bitstream Vera Font License, Bitstream-Vera.

Commercial use
allowed
Share alike
not required
Attribution
required (keep the copyright and license notices)
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Write this as a license text (needs an account) DALICC reads the model above and writes what it permits, requires and prohibits in plain English. Without an account, the Text download above writes the model out from the vocabulary.

Canonical URI https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Bitstream-Vera

Permissions

  • Change license by library convention Library convention: family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing. Replacing the license of the work, or of an adaptation, with another license, or changing its terms.

    Duties

    • Use a compliant license by library convention Library convention: family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing. Choosing a replacement license that stays compliant with the terms of the original license.
  • Charge distribution fee from the text Charging a fee for the act of providing a copy of the work to someone else.
  • Commercial use from the text Using the work to generate income, directly or indirectly, for example by selling it or by using it in advertising.
  • Derivative works from the text Distributing an adaptation of the work and making it available to the public.
  • Derive from the text The text says: "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"." Creating a new work from the work, such as a translation, adaptation or arrangement of it or of a part of it.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
    • Rename from the text Giving a modified or derived work a name that tells it apart from the original.
  • Display from the text Showing the work to the public without making a copy the viewer keeps.
  • Distribute from the text Providing copies of the work to the public or to anyone else.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
  • Grant use from the text Granting third parties the right to use the work.
  • Modified works from the text Distributing a modified version of the work that does not amount to a new, derivative work.
  • Modify from the text The text says: "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"." Altering the work, for example by updating it, without creating a new work; an alteration that creates a new work is Derive.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
    • Rename from the text Giving a modified or derived work a name that tells it apart from the original.
  • Present from the text Performing the work in public, including by broadcast or other communication to the public.
  • Reproduce from the text Making copies of the work in any form.

Prohibitions

  • Promote from the text Not permitted: Promote. The text says: "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." Using the name or trademarks of the licensor or of contributors to endorse or promote a product.
  • Sell copy from the text Not permitted: Sell copy. The text says: "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." Selling copies of the work.

License-wide duties

This license states no duties that apply to the work as a whole.

What applies by default

The statements above are the library's reading of this license: each is marked with the sentence it rests on, or as a library convention where the text is not explicit. The statements below are the ones the DALICC reasoner supplies for acts the license says nothing about, from the default rules of the dependency graph it reasons with. Each one names the legal source it rests on. None of it is in the record.

No default rule of that graph reaches this license: it speaks about every act the rules are about.

Further terms

These are the things the license says about itself beyond the acts it permits, forbids and requires: when it ends, how long there is to put a breach right, which law governs it, and so on. A term that comes from the DALICC vocabulary links to its definition.

Terminates on breach
Yes

Clauses

Warranty disclaimer

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.

Limitation of liability

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.

Additional clauses

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.

Info

Target asset types
Creative work (i.e. text, picture, sound, movie), Software
Region / jurisdiction
Worldwide
Validity
Perpetual
Source
https://spdx.org/licenses/Bitstream-Vera.html
Legal code
https://spdx.org/licenses/Bitstream-Vera.html
This description is published under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Publisher
Bitstream, Inc.
Attribution name
Bitstream, Inc.
SPDX identifier
Bitstream-Vera on the SPDX license list
DALICC identifier
Bitstream-Vera

This record is published under CC BY 4.0. Credit it as: DALICC License Library, DALICC - Verein zur Förderung der Rechtssicherheit in der Datenbewirtschaftung, https://dalicc.net, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The license it describes belongs to its publisher.

Use this license

Everything below is generated from this record. Replace the example address with the address of your own work.

JSON sidecar 

{
  "license-uri": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Bitstream-Vera",
  "license-title": "Bitstream Vera Font License",
  "spdx-id": "Bitstream-Vera",
  "attribution": "Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holder]",
  "asset": null,
  "generated-by": "DALICC"
}

RDF, Turtle 

@prefix cc: <http://creativecommons.org/ns#> .

<https://example.org/my-work>
    cc:license <https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Bitstream-Vera> .

RDF, JSON-LD 

{
  "@context": {
    "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
  },
  "@id": "https://example.org/my-work",
  "cc:license": {
    "@id": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Bitstream-Vera"
  }
}

HTML attribution 

<p>This work is licensed under <a href="https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Bitstream-Vera" rel="license">Bitstream Vera Font License</a>.</p>

This license asks for attribution, so the credit line is part of it.

Badge DALICC badge for Bitstream Vera Font License

Markdown 

[![License: Bitstream Vera Font License](https://dalicc.net/license-library/Bitstream-Vera/badge.svg)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/Bitstream-Vera)

HTML 

<a href="https://dalicc.net/license-library/Bitstream-Vera"><img src="https://dalicc.net/license-library/Bitstream-Vera/badge.svg" alt="License: Bitstream Vera Font License"></a>

Review

Written from the license text by
Giray Havur
Written on
2026-09-22
Second review
not yet done
Record changed since this review
yes (version 2, 2026-09-24)
Findings
11 recorded, 8 applied to the record, 0 proposed

Models the font licence Bitstream wrote for the Vera typefaces. It is an MIT-shaped grant over a font with three additions: the notices have to travel with every copy, a modified font has to be renamed away from the Bitstream and Vera names, and no typeface may be sold on its own. The record follows OFL-1.1 for the font shape and for the sale prohibition.

11 findings

  • info Rubric 1 spdx:licenseId applied

    File name, record identifier, SPDX identifier and IRI local name are all Bitstream-Vera.

  • info Rubric 2 odrl:target applied

    One odrl:AssetCollection of dct:type dalicc:CreativeWork and dcmitype:Software, the pair OFL-1.1 uses: a font is a typeface design and a program file at the same time.

  • major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

    The grant reads "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". The record permits reproduce, distribute, modify, derive, display, present, grantUse, commercial use, derivative works, modified works and the distribution fee.

  • major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

    dalicc:ChangeLicense is permitted with the dalicc:compliantLicense duty. This is where the record parts from OFL-1.1, which prohibits relicensing because its text says the font must be distributed entirely under that licence. The Bitstream text has no such sentence.

  • major Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition applied

    dalicc:sellCopy is prohibited for "no copy of one or more of the Font Software typefaces may be sold by itself", and dalicc:promote for "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". cc:CommercialUse stays permitted because the same sentence allows the font to be sold as part of a larger package, which is the arrangement OFL-1.1 also records.

  • major Rubric 5 odrl:duty applied

    cc:Attribution and cc:Notice hang off odrl:distribute, odrl:modify and odrl:derive for "The above copyright and trademark notices and this permission notice shall be included in all copies". dalicc:rename hangs off odrl:modify and odrl:derive for the sentence that allows modification "only if the fonts are renamed to names not containing either the words "Bitstream" or the word "Vera"".

  • minor Rubric 6 dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer applied

    The disclaimer paragraph carries the warranty sentence and the liability sentence. They are split into dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer and dalicc:LiabilityLimitation, as on OFL-1.1.

  • major Rubric 7 dalicc:terminatesOnBreach applied

    dalicc:terminatesOnBreach is true for "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". No cure period is given, so dalicc:curePeriod is absent. The text names no legal system and sets no term, so cc:jurisdiction is dalicc:worldwide and dalicc:validityType is dalicc:perpetual.

  • info Rubric 8 dalicc:additionalClauses none

    No clause of this text needs a term the vocabulary does not have. The conditional nullity is carried by dalicc:terminatesOnBreach and quoted in full.

  • info Rubric 9 record none

    The consistency check of app.services.composer against the dependency graph dg_default returned an empty conflict list.

  • info Rubric 10 record none

    Read against licensedata/licenses/OFL-1.1.ttl: the same font target, the same dalicc:rename duty, the same dalicc:sellCopy prohibition and the same termination flag. The differences are that this text has no share-alike sentence, so no cc:ShareAlike duty is made, and that relicensing is permitted rather than prohibited.

Report an issue The review record as JSON The review checks the model against the license text. It is not legal advice.

History

This license model has 2 versions. Version 2 is the one served today; every earlier version keeps its own address, so a conclusion drawn from one of them can still be checked against it.

  1. Version 2 current2026-09-24 Giray Havur

    The changes since version 1 recorded which sentence of the text each statement rests on and named the license the record itself is published under.

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    6 changes

    • changed permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]

      was permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]

      Manual edit The statement is marked as a library convention, family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing: the text does not state it in as many words. Its duty dalicc:compliantLicense is marked as a library convention, family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing.

    • changed permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:rename]

      was permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:rename]

      Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "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"."

    • changed permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:rename]

      was permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:rename]

      Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "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"."

    • changed prohibition dalicc:promote

      was prohibition dalicc:promote

      Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "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."

    • changed prohibition dalicc:sellCopy

      was prohibition dalicc:sellCopy

      Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "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."

    • added dct:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>

      Manual edit Every record is published under CC BY 4.0. cc:license names the record DALICC keeps of that licence; dct:license now names it by the address Creative Commons publishes it at, so that a consumer matching the canonical IRI finds it.

  2. Version 1

    Created from the license text on 2026-09-22 (Permissive variants).

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Every change names the reason behind it: a finding of the content review, one of its library-wide decisions, the metadata that review wrote onto every record, or a hand edit. None of it is legal advice.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. What a license means is decided by its text; ask a legal advisor before you rely on it.