Fonts are easy to overlook when you rebrand a white-label product. A planner, ebook or slide deck may use several typefaces, and each one has its own license, separate from the license for the product itself. Before you sell or give away a rebranded file, it is worth knowing which fonts are inside it and what their licenses allow.
Why Fonts Need Their Own Check
A white-label provider can license you the text, layouts and designs it created. It usually cannot grant you rights to fonts made by someone else beyond what the font’s own license permits. The safest approach is to treat every font as a separate item to check, especially if you plan to share editable files with your customers.
Fonts From Google Fonts
Google Fonts is a common source of free fonts. Its official file repository on GitHub explains that the top-level folders indicate the license of the fonts in them and that all the fonts are licensed with permission to redistribute, subject to the license terms. Many families use the SIL Open Font License (OFL), but not all of them do, so check the license listed for each family rather than assuming they are identical.
What the Open Font License Generally Allows
The official OFL FAQ (version 1.1-update7, as of October 2026) answers several questions that matter to sellers of digital products:
- Commercial design work is allowed. You may use OFL fonts in commercial work such as logos, posters and merchandise, and the finished artwork does not become OFL-licensed.
- Embedding in documents is allowed. Fonts may be embedded in documents in full or as a subset, and embedding an OFL font does not change the license of the document itself.
- Bundling is allowed. OFL fonts may be bundled with software, including commercial software, as long as the font files themselves remain under the OFL.
- Selling the font alone is not allowed. The fonts may be distributed only as part of a larger package, not sold by themselves.
- Modified fonts may need a new name. If a font has Reserved Font Names, a modified version cannot use them.
For most rebranded PDFs, that means using an OFL font in your design and exporting with the font embedded is generally permitted. If you include the font files in a download, for example so buyers can edit a template, the OFL FAQ notes that distribution requires including the copyright notice and license information with the fonts.
Fonts Inside Canva Templates
Many white-label templates are delivered as Canva links. Canva’s Content License Agreement (as of October 2026) covers the content in its library, including fonts, and it is worth reading in full. One detail to note: the agreement says Canva content may not be used as part of a trademark, trade name or business name, but it makes an exception for fonts. Other limits in the agreement, such as the difference between Free and Pro Content in templates sold to third parties, still apply to the rest of the design.
Commercial and Desktop Fonts
Fonts bought from type foundries or installed with design software often have stricter terms. Some desktop licenses do not cover embedding in products for sale, distributing editable files or use in apps. If a white-label product uses a commercial font, you may need your own license or a replacement font.
A Quick Font Checklist
- List every font used in the product (most design tools show this in the text panel).
- Find the source of each font and save a copy or link to its license.
- Confirm the license allows commercial use and embedding in the formats you will sell.
- If you share editable files, check whether the font may be redistributed and include any required license files.
- Replace any font you cannot verify with one whose license you can confirm.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Font licenses differ and can change, so read the current license for each font and check specific questions with a qualified attorney.