SIL OFL 1.1 plus "reserved font name" is DFSG?

Nicholas D Steeves <[email protected]> Wed, 28 Jan 2026 22:14:39 -0500

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.fonts,gmane.linux.debian.devel.legal
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Hi,

I'm looking at the BenchNine font, because some upstream documentation
that I'm packaging uses this font.  Unfortunately, it appears that its
license may be non-DFSG due to this:

    No Modified Version of the Font Software may use the Reserved Font
    Name(s) unless explicit written permission is granted by the
    corresponding Copyright Holder. This restriction only applies to the
    primary font name as presented to the users.
    https://fonts.google.com/specimen/BenchNine/license

I understand how this is arguably important for the end-user experience
of fonts as well as what might be called integrity of design principles
which affect potentially affect the author's reputation.  That said, it
feels non-DFSGish.  What do you think?

Can we clarify our position on this (somewhere) please?

Kind regards,
Nicholas

signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, 857 B)