[amyjess]

It may be different in other countries, but in the US font design cannot be copyrighted. The TTF/OTF files can, and so can the hinting algorithms, but the actual design of the font is legally guaranteed to be copyrightable by anyone.

Why? Because a long time ago, the US government was worried that somebody would exploit a loophole and try to copyright the alphabet. So they set up protections to absolutely make sure nobody can do this.

Interestingly, this means that text-only logos like the Coca-Cola logo can't be copyrighted; they're only protected by trademark.