Font licensing issues

[marlene]

Someone's saying she used to work for a company that would buy fonts (presumably multi-user licensed) and give them to their freelancers to use.

I'm saying it's illegal. I've checked a few foundry websites, and they clearly indicate that that multi-user licenses are for use by the company's employees at the company location (although some foundries will allow employees to install the fonts on home computers if they work at home).

But none indicate (at least not that I could see) that they allow companies to distribute the fonts to people who are not actually company employees.

Anyone know of a foundry who DOES allow companies to give multi-user licensed fonts to freelancers (presumbly to use ONLY on jobs for that company)?

Next question ... what's the deal about embedding fonts in PDFs (for client proofing and/or to send to press)? I'm looking at the fine print in some of the license agreements, and find the embedding restrictions confusing. Some foundries seem to indicate that I cannot embed their fonts in a PDF. Am I misinterpreting this? I can't imagine how I could possibly get anything done if I couldn't send out PDFs with fonts embedded.

mxh