We very much welcome contributions to our font projects. To enable us to accept contributions in a way that honours your contribution and respects your copyright while preserving long-term flexibility for open source licensing, each contributor needs to agree to the following SIL Global Contributor License Agreement for Font Software (v1.1).

Some important aspects of this agreement you should consider (but read the license itself for the formal legal details):

  • You (or your employer) retain copyright to your contributions. You are not assigning copyright to SIL or anyone else. This does not change your rights to use your contributions for other purposes.

  • You allow SIL to license or relicense your work under the SIL Open Font License (OFL) or any other open source license we approve. This is to enable future relicensing of fonts in case there is ever a successor to or replacement for the current OFL. In any case the contribution would always remain open source.

  • You only need to submit your agreement once. That will cover any contributions you make to SIL font projects.

  • If your employer has rights regarding the work that you produce, you must have their permission to make contributions and agree on their behalf (see #3).

If you agree to the terms below, please fill in the Google form and submit it to us prior to sending us any material or initiating any pull requests. Thank you!

SIL Global Contributor License Agreement for Font Software (v1.1)

SIL Global seeks to maximise access to appropriate technologies for all language communities and this will always inspire our font-related intellectual property policies. In order to clarify the intellectual property license granted with Contributions from any person or entity, we require Contributors to our font projects to agree to the following Contributor License Agreement (“CLA”). This license is for your protection as a Contributor as well as the protection of SIL Global (“SIL”); it does not change your rights to use or relicense your own Contributions for any other purpose.

You accept and agree to the following terms and conditions for Your present and future font project Contributions submitted to SIL. Except for the license granted herein to SIL and recipients of software distributed by SIL, You reserve all right, title, and interest in and to Your Contributions.

  1. Definitions.
    “You” (or “Your”) shall mean the copyright owner or legal entity authorized by the copyright owner that is making this Agreement with SIL.
    “Contribution” shall mean any original work of authorship, including any modifications or additions to an existing work, that is intentionally submitted by You to SIL for inclusion in, or documentation of, any of the products owned or managed by SIL (the “Work”).

  2. Grant of License. You hereby grant to SIL and to recipients of font software distributed by SIL a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, and distribute Your Contributions and such derivative works under the terms of SIL Open Font License version 1.1 or any other open source license approved by SIL.

  3. You represent that each of Your Contributions is Your original creation, and that You are legally entitled to grant the above license. If your employer(s) has rights to intellectual property that you create that includes Your Contributions, you represent that your employer has waived such rights for Your Contributions, or that you have received permission to make contributions on behalf of that employer and that You are authorized to execute this agreement on behalf of your employer.

  4. You are not expected to provide support for Your Contributions, except to the extent You desire to provide support. You may provide support for free, for a fee, or not at all. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, You provide Your Contributions on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions of TITLE, NON- INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Agreement Form

Previous Version

If you submitted this form before 23 October 2024 you would have agreed to the SIL International Contributor License Agreement for Font Software (v1.0), which is copied below for your reference. The only difference between the versions is that the SIL Global is now the new name of SIL International.

SIL International Contributor License Agreement for Font Software (v1.0)

SIL International seeks to maximise access to appropriate technologies for all language communities and this will always inspire our font-related intellectual property policies. In order to clarify the intellectual property license granted with Contributions from any person or entity, we require Contributors to our font projects to agree to the following Contributor License Agreement (“CLA”). This license is for your protection as a Contributor as well as the protection of SIL International (“SIL”); it does not change your rights to use or relicense your own Contributions for any other purpose.

You accept and agree to the following terms and conditions for Your present and future font project Contributions submitted to SIL. Except for the license granted herein to SIL and recipients of software distributed by SIL, You reserve all right, title, and interest in and to Your Contributions.

  1. Definitions.
    “You” (or “Your”) shall mean the copyright owner or legal entity authorized by the copyright owner that is making this Agreement with SIL.
    “Contribution” shall mean any original work of authorship, including any modifications or additions to an existing work, that is intentionally submitted by You to SIL for inclusion in, or documentation of, any of the products owned or managed by SIL (the “Work”).

  2. Grant of License. You hereby grant to SIL and to recipients of font software distributed by SIL a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, and distribute Your Contributions and such derivative works under the terms of SIL Open Font License version 1.1 or any other open source license approved by SIL.

  3. You represent that each of Your Contributions is Your original creation, and that You are legally entitled to grant the above license. If your employer(s) has rights to intellectual property that you create that includes Your Contributions, you represent that your employer has waived such rights for Your Contributions, or that you have received permission to make contributions on behalf of that employer and that You are authorized to execute this agreement on behalf of your employer.

  4. You are not expected to provide support for Your Contributions, except to the extent You desire to provide support. You may provide support for free, for a fee, or not at all. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, You provide Your Contributions on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions of TITLE, NON- INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.