Wave of warnings about Google Fonts - what should I be aware of and how can I protect myself?

The judgment was relatively minor, as it only involved damages of 100.00 euros. And yet many dubious law firms are now relying on this judgment and have set in motion the aforementioned wave of warnings. We will show you what you need to know about Google Fonts and how you can protect yourself from a warning or a claim for damages.

What is the wave of warnings about?

Google Fonts are initially just different fonts that website operators can use freely. The problem, however, lies in the technical details. There are two ways in which the fonts can be incorporated into the website. On the one hand, there is a local integration of the Google Fonts. In this case, the fonts are first downloaded and later uploaded to your own server. This variant does not pose any problems. Dynamic integration, on the other hand, is problematic and has led to a wave of warnings. If the fonts are dynamically integrated, the user of a website establishes a connection to Google's servers without his knowledge. In this way, the company obtains insight into the user's IP, which in turn violates the German Data Protection Ordinance. Since the Munich Regional Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, this was the reason for the current wave of warning letters.

These are your options in the event of a warning notice

If you have already received mail from one of the lawyers responsible for the wave of warning letters, you should first remain calm. The lawyer must prove to what extent the claims are justified.

In the first step, you should check the Google Fonts of your website and see whether the integration is compliant or non-compliant. If the latter is the case, correct this as soon as possible and switch to a local integration of the fonts.

On the other hand, you should not make a payment in any case, even if the Google Fonts of your website were indeed incorrectly integrated. Instead, you can express the suspicion in your letter back to the lawyer that he is part of the current wave of warning letters. In this case, he must provide a legal power of attorney naming his client. In addition, you are entitled to request proof that your website was actually accessed by the client's IP.

Technical assistance protects against warning letters

Almost half of all websites are designed using WordPress nowadays. The practical thing about this open source system is the possibility to integrate numerous plug-ins. One of these plug-ins is called OMGF Pro, which protects you from legal problems due to your website's Google Fonts. This plug-in simply needs to be downloaded and activated. Then, OMGF Pro scans the entire website and uploads the fonts to your server, from where they find their way to your website. Thus, forwarding users' IP addresses to Google is no longer possible.