If a font doesn't come with some kind of license, chances are it's a ripoff. It should match the fontname given in the font shape file. Luc Devroye's webpage includes several free fonts he designed, as well as a lot of links, and fascinating discussion on the topic of typography. There are also several links to many foundries. The quality fonts also have their advantages though.
Type design takes a long time and and experienced designer.
Usually, the ripoffs lack the quality of fonts from respectable founries. There are often bold, italic, and demibold variants, swash capitals, small caps, old style figures, and extra ligatures to supplement the font. A lot of the freely available fonts or the cheap ripoffs lack fairly essential features such as kerning pairs and decent ligatures. They are basically cheap copies. In contrast, reputable designers take a lot of trouble to study the original design, and rework it to the best of their ability.