There have been a number of cases in which designs for individual letters have been held to be “artistic works” for the purposes of copyright. Copyright in many popular typefaces has, however, expired, where these were created and used by people who died more than fifty years ago.

Nonetheless, many popular typeface designs are still in copyright. Therefore, if you are drawing lettering by hand in a particular font (or recreating the font style in, for example, a computerised drawing program), it is likely that you will need permission from the relevant copyright owner.

If you are using a mechanical device such as a typewriter to create a document in a particular font, it is likely that you have an implied licence to reproduce the typeface in the documents you are generating.

However, if you are generating documents or designs using a computer, the issue is likely to be whether you are licensed to use the software that includes and generates the particular typeface. In these cases, check the licence agreement which accompanies the software, or any statements from the relevant company (for example, on its website, or in the “readme” files that often accompany software). These are likely to state what you can do with the software and the font/s. If you are outsourcing the printing of documents, it may be that the printing company will need its own licensed copy of the relevant font software.