Do fonts integrated in the browser need licensing?
<p>Fonts like Helvetica and Arial are commercial, meaning that one needs to purchase (rent actually) a WebFont license when providing that font.</p>

<p>However, both fonts are available on the very most systems and browsers. Instead of embedding the font into the website, one can simply say <code>font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;</code> in the CSS which makes sure the browser retrieves the font locally, on the user's hard drive. This is different from the first case, where the website provides the font.</p>

<p>In the latter case, is there still need for a license?</p>

<p>You only require a license if you are providing (or using) the actual font. As long as you are not serving the font to the user, you do not require a license any more than saying "You should use this font to see the text" requires a license.</p>

licensing website