Rob Campbell wrote:
If I build and sell a software system that renders documents in pdf format
from stored XML using FOP do I need a licence from Adobe or anyone else
covering the ability to produce and use the pdf format? i.e. is the pdf
format itself protected in any way?
As Adobe says it's "de-facto open" standard. According to "1.4 Intellectual
Property" chapter of "PDF Reference third edition Adobe Portable Document
Format Version 1.4", Adobe Systems Incorporated owns the copyright for
Portable Document Format, but
"However, Adobe desires to promote the use of the Portable
Document Format for information interchange among diverse products and
applications. Accordingly, Adobe gives anyone copyright permission, subject to
the conditions stated below, to:
? Prepare files whose content conforms to the Portable Document Format
? Write drivers and applications that produce output represented in the
Portable Document Format
? Write software that accepts input in the form of the Portable Document
Format and displays, prints, or otherwise interprets the contents
..."
--
Oleg Tkachenko
Multiconn Technologies, Israel
XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list