In reply to Licensing a typeface vs. commissioning similar design:
Here's one example:
British Council Sans / £50,000 / Monotype Imaging / 2002
Source: http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/campaign/2008/06/freedom-of-info.html
Scope:
British Council Sans: available in eight weights for both Macintosh and PC platforms in Latin, Central European and Turkish. It is also available in four weights in Greek and Cyrillic.