License of "Apple Color Emoji.ttf" [closed]

Question

Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.

---

This question does not appear to be about programming within the scope defined in the help center.

Closed 8 years ago.

Improve this question

What's the license of OS X Lion's /System/Library/Fonts/Apple Color Emoji.ttf?

In this posting Apple's Peter Edberg says:

As previously stated, Apple would like to make the Apple Emoji font - and the glyphs therefrom - widely available using a license that makes it possible for anyone to change it as they see fit or to combine its glyphs with those from another font, without Apple acquiring any
rights to such changes. The only conditions we want to impose are: a) The name "Apple Emoji" can only be used for the original unmodified
font; if the font is modified or combined with another font, the
result must have a different name (without "Apple" in it). b) The original font, or one derived from it or incorporating parts of it, can not be sold as a stand-alone package. (However, it it could be
included as part of a system which is sold as a package). Otherwise a third party should be free to use the font, or to adapt it, modify it, extend it, distribute it, etc.

However, at the time of that posting (2009), Apple had not decided about the actual license. I tried to find out now, but I could not find a more official license statement.

[Update 2014-03-12: I have now mailed Mr. Edberg and asked for clarification.]

Answer 1

Mr. Edberg has answered me (my emphasis):

The font being considered for licensing as per the emoji4unicode posting [...] was not “Apple Color Emoji”, which was never considered for licensing. Rather, it was a separate black & white “Apple Emoji” font mainly developed as part of the proposal to Unicode and ISO 10646 for the addition of emoji characters, in order to provide glyphs for use in the code charts etc. As far as I know it is not a font that ever been included in shipping Apple products.

So the answer is that there is no license for 'Apple Color Emoji.ttf' available.

IANAL, by the way.

Update 2018-02-06: According to Twitter posts, Apple has started enforcing that now in the App Store. Sam Eckert reports there:

I’ve just been on the phone with the App Review team regarding the Emoji issue. Apps are NO LONGER ALLOWED TO USE EMOJI in non-keyboard based situations. Means if your app displays emoji anywhere without a user having it typed in, it’s illegal and will be rejected.