[LocalH]

The question is, essentially, "should bitmap fonts be copyrightable". In many jurisdictions, they are not. In the US, this has been black-letter law for several decades. A purely mechanical image reproduction of a typeface does not enjoy legal protection. I think it should remain that way. Many fonts are extremely similar, and allowing rights to the design itself would result in fights over the most basic of typeface design, similar to that seen in the music industry (where there have been efforts to claim rights to a chord progression).

Outline fonts (that contain programmable elements) are considered software and are copyrightable. A rendered output of such a font is not. It may legally matter who makes that rendered output, that they have the right to use the font software in that fashion. But someone working from a specimen? They should have the right to digitize that font themselves, and employ creative decision-making in placing the control points. In fact, that very thing has happened numerous times within the typography industry.