Law · Updated October 2026

Google Fonts: the legal situation in Austria (as of October 2026)

Draft. This page has not been editorially reviewed yet. The legal review is still pending.

Don't load Google Fonts from Google's servers; host the fonts yourself instead – then no IP address is sent to Google when the page loads, and the issue is settled. Regarding the 2022 wave of warning letters, Austrian courts have so far judged the senders' conduct to be an abuse of rights. But the question isn't finally settled: in November 2025 the OGH (Supreme Court) stayed a case and is waiting for the EuGH (CJEU). Until then, self-hosting is the safe route.

What the law requires

Art 6 Abs 1 DSGVO (LG München I, Urteil 20.01.2022, 3 O 17493/20)
The German LG München I (Munich Regional Court I) found that embedding Google Fonts dynamically, where the IP address was sent to Google without consent, was unlawful. It granted an injunction and EUR 100 in damages and pointed out that the fonts can also be used without a connection to Google's servers. This is a single German decision and is not binding in Austria.
Art 82 DSGVO – Abmahnwelle Österreich 2022 (WKO-Information)
According to the WKO, several thousand Austrian businesses received letters about dynamically embedded Google Fonts in summer 2022. They demanded a flat EUR 190 per website (EUR 100 in damages and EUR 90 in legal fees).
Art 82 DSGVO – LG für ZRS Wien, Musterverfahren, Urteil 1. Instanz (zugestellt 30.12.2025)
In the test case funded by the WKO, the LG für Zivilrechtssachen Wien (Vienna Regional Civil Court) dismissed the claim: systematic warning letters sent for profit were an abuse of rights, because websites had been visited automatically to deliberately provoke GDPR breaches; in such cases there were no claims for damages or injunctions. According to the WKO, the decision was not final. Whether an appeal was lodged could not be verified.
LG Wien als Berufungsgericht (Parallelverfahren, Bericht 10.06.2024)
According to futurezone, the LG Wien as the court of appeal confirmed in a parallel case (first instance: BG Favoriten, Favoriten District Court) that the conduct of the sender of the warning letters – automated visits to more than 30,000 websites and thousands of demand letters – was an abuse of rights. An appeal to the OGH (Supreme Court) was announced.
OGH 26.11.2025, 6 Ob 141/24i (Unterbrechung)
The OGH (Supreme Court) stayed a Google Fonts case (questions: dynamic IP address as personal data, non-material damages for a deliberately provoked breach, abuse of rights) until the EuGH (CJEU) rules on the reference from the German BGH (VI ZR 258/24 of 28 August 2025) and on case C-526/24. A final ruling by the highest court in Austria is therefore still pending.
EuGH 19.03.2026, C-526/24 (Brillen Rottler)
The EuGH (CJEU) ruled that even a first access request under Art 15 GDPR can be abusive if the controller proves that its only purpose is to artificially create the conditions for later damages claims; this exception is narrow. For damages under Art 82 GDPR, actual damage and causation must be proven. The ruling does not directly concern Google Fonts.

Checklist

ItemLegal basis
Don't load fonts from fonts.googleapis.com (Your HTML/CSS must not contain a <link> or @import pointing to fonts.googleapis.com.)Art 6 Abs 1 DSGVO (vgl. LG München I 3 O 17493/20)
Don't load font files from fonts.gstatic.com (In the browser's network tab, no request to fonts.gstatic.com may appear when the page loads. The WKO names both domains as the thing to check.)Art 6 Abs 1 DSGVO
Host the fonts yourself (serve them from your own server/domain) (WKO: Google fonts can be downloaded and embedded from your own server.)WKO-Empfehlung
No Google Fonts loaded by a theme, plugin or page builder (Many themes load Google Fonts automatically; check the setting or switch it off.)Art 6 Abs 1 DSGVO
The privacy policy matches how fonts are actually embedded (If the fonts are self-hosted, no notice about data transfer to Google for fonts is needed; otherwise it must be mentioned.)Art 13 DSGVO

Who is exempt

  • Locally hosted Google Fonts (the font files are on your own server) – no connection to Google is made when the page loads
  • System fonts (e.g. font-family: system-ui) that don't trigger any external requests

Common mistakes

  • Your WordPress theme loads Google Fonts from fonts.googleapis.com, even though you uploaded the font locally.
  • You've embedded the fonts locally, but a plugin (e.g. slider, form, page builder) also loads them externally.
  • You only check the home page, not subpages like contact or blog, where other templates load other fonts.
  • You pay a warning letter straight away without getting advice from the WKO or a lawyer.
  • Your privacy policy claims "fonts are hosted locally" when they aren't.
  • Embedded Google Maps or YouTube videos also load Google resources when the page loads – you only thought about the fonts.

Frequently asked questions

I got a letter about Google Fonts in 2022. Do I have to pay?

We can't decide that for you. What's certain: Austrian courts have repeatedly found the sender's conduct to be an abuse of rights, most recently the LG für Zivilrechtssachen Wien (Vienna Regional Civil Court) in the WKO test case (served on 30 December 2025, not final). The OGH (Supreme Court) has stayed a case until the EuGH (CJEU) decides. If you face a specific claim, contact the WKO or a lawyer before you pay.

What's the problem with dynamically embedded Google Fonts?

If the font is loaded from fonts.googleapis.com or fonts.gstatic.com when the page loads, your visitors' browser connects to Google and sends the IP address. In 2022 the LG München I (Munich Regional Court I) ruled that doing this without consent breaches the GDPR, because the fonts can also be used locally. That was a German judgment; in Austria the question is still open at the highest court.

How do I check whether my website loads Google Fonts externally?

The WKO names two ways: search your page's source code for "fonts.googleapis.com" or "fonts.gstatic.com", or use an online checking tool. More reliable is the network tab in your browser's developer tools: reload the page and filter for "fonts". Check several subpages, because themes and plugins sometimes load fonts only on certain pages.

How do I host Google Fonts myself?

You download the font files (ideally in WOFF2 format), put them on your own web server and embed them in your CSS with @font-face. Then you remove all references to fonts.googleapis.com. In WordPress, many themes have an option to switch off external Google Fonts. Finally, check in the network tab that no more requests go to Google's font servers.

This page is not legal advice. What counts are the laws in force and the information from your chamber or your legal adviser.

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Sources

  1. LG München I, 20.01.2022, 3 O 17493/20 (gesetze-bayern.de) (retrieved on 3 October 2026)
  2. WKO – Abmahnungen wegen Google Fonts (retrieved on 3 October 2026)
  3. WKNÖ – Klares Signal gegen Abmahnmissbrauch in der Causa „Google Fonts“ (aktualisiert 13.01.2026) (retrieved on 3 October 2026)
  4. futurezone – Massen-Abmahnungen wegen Google Fonts waren missbräuchlich (Berufungsgericht) (retrieved on 3 October 2026)
  5. RIS – OGH 26.11.2025, 6 Ob 141/24i (retrieved on 3 October 2026)
  6. E+H Rechtsanwälte – EuGH C-526/24 (Brillen Rottler) (retrieved on 3 October 2026)
  7. dataprotect.at – Entscheidung erster Instanz des LG ZRS am 30.12.2025 zugestellt (retrieved on 3 October 2026)

Last checked on 3 October 2026.

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