These forums are now Read Only. If you have an Acrobat question, ask questions and get help from one of our experts.

Licensing Query for Reader Enabled forms

Forum Index > Forms: LiveCycle Designer > Licensing Query for Reader Enabled forms
2008-06-03 02:53:14
R_Boyd
Registered: Nov 1 2007
Posts: 151

I've read the informative blog on this topic but would like to know a bit more about the practicalities of this.

I have been trying to replace internally used non-commercial Word forms with Adobe PDF created in Designer. The idea being that it offers better functionality and cleaner, more consistent and accessible presentation.

The user agreement specifies that a reader enabled form can only be downloaded 500 times and anything beyond this is a breach and should be addressed by investing in expensive solutions from Adobe.

Some questions:

How is this measured?

Is there something in the forms / software that tracks the number of uses?

If the number is exceeded will the form stop working?

Is there something that tracks the number of times the form is enabled?

If so does the counter (if it exists) reset or does it carry on?

If not does that mean a workaround would be to re-enable the form on a regular basis or is this considered a breach of the terms of use?

I'd be really grateful if someone could offer some clarification as this could potentially sink the whole project and result in just sticking with Word forms.

A lot of time and money has been invested in this project and it seems that at every step there is yet another issue to kill it.

Top
2008-06-03 07:02:36
#1
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4308
This is a world wide user to user forum, and probably not many lawyers are here and most will not reply as they have professional liability issues and may not be informed about the local laws of you jurisdiction.

You should have a local attorney contact Adode for a detailed and response.

George Kaiser

Top
2008-06-03 07:26:53
#2
R_Boyd
Registered: Nov 1 2007
Posts: 151
Thanks for your reply. We'll have to do this and I'm sure it will kill this project dead. I will have invested a great deal of time in learning a technology that can have no practical use in my current work setting.

I'm surprised that the licensing issue given its legal implications is something that is not explicit in the guidance for Acrobat Professional. There is nothing in the help information relating to reader enabling forms to indicate that there is a limit or that the breach of this limit violates the terms and conditions of the end user agreement.

I am less than impressed.
Top
2008-06-04 07:26:15
#3
StevenD
Registered: Oct 6 2006
Posts: 368
I think this is one of the most confusing aspects of Acrobat 8 and we have had nearly the same questions here at my work that you are asking. The end user agreement is very confusing. One of our editors who is pretty savvy with those kind of documents read the part about reader enabling documents and couldn't figure out what some of it meant.

I am surprised (well maybe not that surprised) no one from Adobe has responded to this post or even come right out and spell it out in a blog so the rest of us can understand just what it is all about.

This topic has come up several times in discussions. It almost seems like Adobe has made this available to entice people but then are very tight lipped about explaining just how it works. It is always a lawyer thing. I wonder if this feature makes enough people nervous to the point that they simply do not use the feature out of fear of breaching the end user agreement and they just do not want to deal with the hassle. Several of us here at work have had discussions about this and after going back and forth with various interpretations I still don't have a clear answer.

StevenD

Top