Do I own the PDF forms I produce in DC?

[lorif84907739]

Hello...

I'm creating online workbooks to sell and want to check that I will own them and not Adobe...

Also are there any issues with me selling my products online if they have been produced in Adobe DC?

Many thanks in advance....

[try67]

Any file you create using Acrobat belongs to you.

On Wed, Apr 6, 2016 at 4:38 PM, lorif84907739 <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

[lorif84907739]

Thank you try67‌

I read somewhere on a forum that each document produced in Adobe can only be viewed and saved up to 500 times. Is that true? That would severly limit the amount of people I could sell my workbooks to....

[try67 · Accepted solution]

That only applies to Reader-enabled files, and only to them being submitted back to you 500 times.

If your users have Acrobat or Reader XI (or higher) then this is not an issue.

[lorif84907739]

try67‌ you wonderful person! Thank you for answering that. I've just spend over an hour on support chat and no-one could tell me. You are a total gem

[try67]

Just a disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and the above should not be seen as legal advice. Just my own understanding of the situation.

[George_Johnson]

Note that the Acrobat licensing restriction does not apply to documents that have been Reader-enabled with Acrobat DC since its license does not include such a restriction as previous version do. It does apply regardless of what PDF viewer someone uses to work with the Reader-enabled document if the document was enabled with Acrobat prior to DC. It is also is not a restriction on how many times an enabled document can be viewed and saved, not at all. It is a restriction on how the Acrobat licensee can use data from filled-in forms that are received from users, not on users or forms.

[gkaiseril]

This can be a very complicated answer. You need to talk to an attorney that deals with intellectual property.

If you are paid by your employer to a third party to create the form, the form most likely falls into the "work for hire" doctrine. The employer or third party most likely owns the work but the knowledge you leaned you can use elsewhere. This may be true even if you did not sign a contract, in which case it falls under the common law were either you live, work, or the employer or third party resides.

You could also create the form under a trade secrets agreement in which case you cannot disclose anything not even if the form and its methods are later disclosed. But you can direct others the publicly disclosed information.

Again this is a very complex topic and you should seek out  legal advice from a qualified attorney. That means one that specializes in intellectual property.