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I have downloaded a font for personal use only.

Can I use it for preparing my commercial coaching notes as if I were a teacher?

Those fonts make my notes attractive.
Should I buy a commercial license?

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  • Hi. Welcome to GDSE. Personal use generally excludes commercial use. Also please don't ask for legal advice here, because it's off topic. Sorry about that. If you are unsure what you should do, ask a lawyer.
    – Billy Kerr
    Aug 24, 2020 at 0:54
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    Personal Use licenses never mean it's "okay" for commercial use. This is overwhelmingly clear by the terms "personal" and "commercial" in the licenses. Are you asking someone to redefine the terms so you don't have to adhere to them?
    – Scott
    Aug 24, 2020 at 2:33

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First, I am not a lawyer, so this is NOT legal advice, just a suggestion for what to look into.

It would depend on how the "Personal" and "Commercial" is defined. Sometimes, the difference is whether or not you are making a profit off what you are producing. Sometimes it's using it in ANY type of business or professional purpose is considered "Commercial". Making a logo would usually be considered commercial in either situation.

Either way, when in doubt, most fonts that have a "free" version are only around $20-$40 or so to purchase, it's not worth the legal headache to save a couple bucks.

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  • +1 for that last paragraph alone.
    – Vincent
    Aug 26, 2020 at 9:29
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There is often a hidden cost associated with 'free', your discovering one potential problem where its 'free' only to a certain extent. In this case your exceeding what you are allowed to do 'free'. To lift this restriction you now have the option to upgrade to a commercial version.

Should you buy it? We dont know, not enough info. You could just switch to a different font. But doing so might have other costs associated with it.

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  • Also worth noting that there are many websites offering free fonts that aren't legitimate and some that don't even publish the licences. If these sites were brick and mortar shops, they'd probably be shut down for false advertising "free" stuff that isnt' free at all. Legitimate sites like google fonts or fontlibrary.org are a much safer bet if you're looking for something truly free for commercial use, although you still need to check the licence for each font individually.
    – Billy Kerr
    Aug 24, 2020 at 11:42
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The designer's helping you win and retain clients with attractive media: be the good guy and give them something for the help they're giving your business. Fonts aren't that expensive relative to what expert coaching costs, and they last a lifetime.

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