Hello,

I want to use the Font Calibri Bold in my game that is targeted for Windows XP, Vista and 7. On Vista and 7 the font is already included, but on XP it is not. Does anyone know what I have to do to distribute this font with my application?

Thanks for any help!

A quick Google brings you here, which under "License Calibri Bold font for enterprises, web developers, for hardware & software redistribution or server installations" sends you there.

What the.... it seems like this font costs 35 Dollars. So I have to pay 35 Dollars just to support this font on Windows XP? This sucks:(

Isn't there a way to get the font free?

A single $35 fee is cheap. Many fonts are licenced by a fee per copy you sell.

If paying $35 is really no option (though in the context of making a game, $35 is really not that much) you could possibly get around this by making a bitmap font. Or just use another free sans-serif font, which is what I'd do personally (Sans Bold which comes with every Linux distro looks pretty much 99% identical, so why not use something like that).

About bitmap fonts, you may want to check with your lawyer first, but at least in the EU the bitmap rendering of a font is not copyrighted or protected in the same way as the truetype font. Unless a font contains characters that are something like a "utility patent" (like the "Coca Cola" font), it's just a bitmap. Obviously, you may e.g. still not display "Coca Cola" in your game, even less so in its typical, recognizable writing, even if the bitmap font as such is "just a bitmap".

I know nothing about copyright laws in other countries regarding fonts, but in the US a typeface itself cannot be copyrighted. The name can be trademarked, and I would guess that some of the metadata might be copyrighted, but a 1:1 lookalike font with a different name can be used without worry (theoretically. They might still try to take you to court, but their case would be difficult and probably not worth it). Note: I am not a lawyer.

Is there any reason it has to be Calibri? You could look through the Google Web Fonts and find something good there. Oxygen looks reasonable. And from the about page (emphesis mine):

All of the fonts are Open Source. This means that you are free to share your favorites with friends and colleagues. You can even improve or customize them and collaborate with the original designer. And you can use them in every way you want, privately or commercially – in print, on your computer, or in your websites.
[/quote]