In the United States, fonts are not copyrightable by law and legal precedent. However, the digital representation of a font is copyrightable. So if you send somebody a digital copy of something with embedded font data, you have to have a license for the font: but if you print it out or convert it to a bitmap, you don’t.

In other countries the legal landscape is very different: in France, fonts are copyrightable.

I happen to know this because the French Abbey of Solesmes claims copyright on the shapes of Gregorian neumes which they have invented over the years. Their books can be reprinted freely in the United States, but not in Europe!