What to Do When a Foundry Writes to You

Here's what actually matters in that first 48 hours — and what doesn't.

The email arrives on a Tuesday. Or maybe it's a letter — proper headed paper, a law firm name at the top. Either way, the message is the same: a font foundry, or someone acting on their behalf, believes you've been using one of their typefaces without the correct licence. They'd like to discuss it.

The instinct for most people at this point is to panic, forward it to legal, and hope someone else deals with it. That's understandable. It's also roughly the worst thing you can do.

Here's what actually matters in that first 48 hours — and what doesn't.

First: don't ignore it This sounds obvious, but it happens more than you'd think. The email goes to a general inbox, gets flagged as spam, or lands with someone who doesn't know what to do with it and puts it in a folder. Foundries and their representatives follow up. Ignoring the initial contact doesn't make it go away; it just removes your window to respond on reasonable terms.

Acknowledge receipt. You don't need to admit anything, dispute anything, or make any commitments. Just confirm you've received the communication and are looking into it. That alone buys you breathing room.

Don't make any admissions in writing — yet There's a natural impulse to reply immediately and explain the situation. Resist it. Anything you put in writing at this stage becomes part of the record. If the font was installed by a previous agency three years ago and nobody knew it was unlicensed, saying "we had no idea" in your first reply isn't helpful — it just confirms the infringement without establishing any context that might work in your favour.

You don't need to be combative. You just need to be careful. Take the time to understand what's being alleged before you respond substantively.

Find out what you're actually dealing with Font licensing disputes vary considerably. At one end, you have a straightforward administrative gap — a webfont licence that should have been upgraded when the site traffic grew, or a desktop licence that was never extended to cover web use. These tend to be resolved quickly once both sides understand the situation.

At the other end, you have cases where a font has been in active commercial use — in a brand identity, across packaging, in software — for years, under no valid licence at all. Those are more complex, but they're still resolvable. The key is knowing which one you're dealing with before you engage.

Pull together your licence documentation. Check invoices, Adobe Fonts subscription records, previous agency handover notes, anything that establishes what was purchased and when. If you can't find anything, that's important information too — it tells you what you're working with.

Understand who's writing to you Not all font licensing claims come directly from foundries. Some come from third-party licensing enforcement agencies — companies that work on behalf of foundries to identify and pursue unlicensed usage, typically on a commission basis. That commercial incentive matters, because their opening position is rarely their final one.

It doesn't mean the claim is illegitimate. It just means the opening demand — which can look alarming — should be treated as a starting point, not a fixed liability. There's usually more flexibility in the resolution than the initial letter implies.

Don't rush to pay what they've asked for The initial demand will often include backdated licence fees, sometimes calculated at retail rates for the full period of alleged use. These figures can look significant. They're also, in most cases, negotiable — particularly if you engage constructively, provide accurate usage data, and demonstrate a willingness to get into compliance.

Foundries, with very few exceptions, are not looking to litigate. Litigation is expensive, slow, and unpredictable. What they want is for you to pay the correct licence fee — ideally with something extra for the inconvenience of having to chase it. A reasonable settlement, reached promptly, is almost always the preferred outcome on both sides.

Get independent advice before you settle If the figure being discussed is significant, or if the situation is more complex than a simple licence gap, it's worth getting someone independent to look at it before you agree to anything. Not a general solicitor — someone who understands font licensing specifically. The terms matter, the usage data matters, and the right framing of your response can make a material difference to where you end up.

Most of these situations resolve without drama. But how you handle the first few days tends to set the tone for everything that follows.