Unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to find out what's allowed to do with a font, by the sheer font. There are some "encoding bits" in fonts, which can technically indicate or even prevent a certain usage, but this might not be reflected by the license and vice versa.

Here are some better ways and indications to find out what's (not) permitted.

Many fonts are supplied to you through a computer's system or applications.E.g. Apple and Microsoft grant you the use of many fonts for a variety of purposes through their operating system (macOS or Windows) or applications (Office). Adobe also adds many fonts to your system along with their creative applications, licensed and all. So if you stick with them, you'll be fine !

Note: there are no "standard" sets of fonts, not even from the sources mentioned above. System and applications versions differ, regions or environments (i.e. educational) can make a difference.

I can safely state that all of these indirectly licensed fonts can be used for print, for design, video, for anything which publishes the font as a rendition. And it's probably needless to say that you can't copy and distribute the fonts for others to use. (Exclusion: you're also allowed to hand-off fonts to a print-supplier, if you're submitting an "open" file, in stead of a PDF with automatically embedded fonts.)

Any directly licensed font has its limitations, as stated by the publisher/distributor. refer to your license (often stated on the purchase order or invoice) or ask the reseller to get clarity on that.

If you're working for a client who already uses a licensed or their own font, you're probably allowed to use that font for their designs, since you're working on behalf of them.

If you're designing something new for a client who doesn't have a license for that specific font, and you're just supplying them PDFs or prints, then you need to license the font. If they want or need to use your files or templates, they also need to use and license that font.

And then there's the web, and ebooks, and apps...
These are often totally different licenses, with hefty prices !
Check out this MyFonts example: Esmeralda Font Family Page

Many font foundries (like Fonts.com and Adobe as well) offer cloud-based fonts, for desktop and web purposes, which are securely distributed. So these costs are not so high. In fact, an Adobe CC subscription includes 12.000 cloud-based fonts, next to the desktop-based fonts you already received from them.

So always assure yourself of what you're entitled to. Like Bret already answered: a simple Google Search will point you to more information from these suppliers. Here's Adobe's FAQ on fonts.

And then we have all these so-called free fonts from DAfont, and many others. Again: please read the small print, especially for non-desktop purposes. Your mileage may vary.

Finally, the open source fonts, as widely distributed by Google, Adobe, Fonts.com and others. These are genuinely free to use, even for web and other digital usage, except for re-distribution of the font itself.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst op Quora: In regards to printing and designing graphics, how can I determine which fonts are permitted to use for commercial purposes?"