> >Most font developers restrict rights on their fonts. Obtaining a > >legal copy of a font only grants the user the right to use the font; > >not to make changes. > > Actually, a lot of font developers -- probably the majority -- explicitly > allow modifications for personal use. What they do not generally permit is > distribution of modified fonts, and, of course, they also require that you > have a valid license for the original font for every installation of the > modified font. If in doubt, check your license agreement.
In some jurisdictions modifying fonts (or any other software) would be considered a consumer right, you bought or otherwise legally obtained it so you can do whatever you want with it unless you make a device violate some other law (sticking rockets onto your car or forcing 30,000 volts down the public phone system would not be legal modifications). In such a jurisdiction you can ignore anything in the license banning personal-use modification, but such a font would still be considered a derived work, which was copyright of both yourself and the original font creator and hence required both your permissions for distribution. Whether this is the case in much of Europe has recently gone from rather- unclear-but-its-probably-legal to rather-unclear-but-its-probably-illegal.
