We deliver unlocked PDFs. The only time I use locked PDFs is at the customer's request. As for illegal reuse; we have seen lawsuits successfully brought by Cisco and Brocade (successful in that the defendant agreed to rework their docs). Grant
> On March 3, 2015 at 2:17 PM Ken Poshedly <[email protected]> wrote: > > It's more a matter of our verbage and/or images being copied and used in the > documentation by competitors. > > As a tech writer for two world-known heavy equipment companies over the past > 17 years, I know first-hand that it is not uncommon for former technicians and > trainers to be put in front of a keyboard and terminal to produce manuals when > they get "too old" to travel long distances or for extended periods for > training or service duties. Their skills are valued far more than their > ability to write coherent text. > > They obviously know every thread-pitch, ampere and torque of all bolts and > everything else, but proper writing skills and observance of copyright laws > are TOTALLY foreign to many of them. That is exactly what happened when I > worked alongside a former friend who had been a trainer for many years but > then got into technical writing. Cutting and pasting stuff verbatim from > competitors' manuals was totally what he did. When I told him our company > could theoretically get sued out of existence, he brushed it off. > > In the real world, I don't know if that kind of stuff (being sued for using > plagiarized text and graphics in construction equipment manuals) actually > matters, but my job -- the way I see it -- includes protecting my employer > from this kind of stuff. > > > On Tuesday, March 3, 2015 4:00 PM, "[email protected]" > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > Ken...just wondering... > > If a customer buys your product, what do you care if they make changes? > > > > John X Posada > > AML Syst & Ops Supt Data Analyst | US FCC & RC Systems Control & > > Analytics > > | HSBC North America Holdings Inc > > 330 Madison Ave., NY NY > > > > _______________________________________________________________ > > > > > > > > > > > > Phone > > Int: 212-525-5483 Ext: Personal Cellphone - 732-259-2874 > > Fax > > Conference Bridge - 877-304-0052, Code 74809254 > > Email > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > > > > > _______________________________________________________________ > > Protect our environment - please only print this if you have > > to! > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: Ken Poshedly < [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > > To: " [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> " > > < [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> >, "Johnson, Joyce" > > < [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > > Cc: " [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> " < [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > > Date: 03/03/2015 03:56 PM > > Subject: Re: secured PDFs > > Sent by: [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > > > > > > > In addition to hard-copies of our manuals included in the operator cab of > > the heavy construction equipment my company manufactures and markets > > worldwide, we also make available pdf files of our manuals with passwords > > to prevent changes, copying text & images, etc. > > > > So far, we're not aware of any plagiarism or other unauthorized use of > > our > > stuff. At least not yet. > > > > -- Ken in Atlanta > > > > > > On Tuesday, March 3, 2015 3:33 PM, " [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> " > > < [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > We used to deliver user guides as secured PDFs; however, the security > > settings in Acrobat 9 never fully suited our needs. We have since > > upgraded > > to Acrobat 12, but I haven't checked if the settings are any better. That > > said, securing the documents ended up being more pain than it was worth. > > Too many users wanted to extract pages or do other things that we deemed > > were OK. We dropped the securing documents years ago. I know there is > > fear > > that someone could steal some trade secret (I never found one in our > > manuals), but as long as you are distributing a document in either PDF or > > print, you have to assume that sooner or later your competition will > > manage to get a copy. > > > > As far as protecting ourselves from someone modifying our documentation > > in > > a way that could expose us to liability for machine damage or personal > > injury, we cover ourselves (per the lawyers) by including disclaimers in > > the preface and noting that the documentation always remains our > > proprietary property and cannot be altered or duplicated without our > > permission. I'm sure that doesn't stop anyone, but the legal folks say > > that if a customer violates that clause, they place themselves at risk > > through no fault of ours. > > > > > > > > > > Tom Beiswenger > > Manager, Technical & Training Documentation, Project Manager - Inspection > > Business > > Emhart Glass Mfg. Inc. > > 1140 Sullivan St. > > Elmira, NY 14901 > > PH: +607 735-4279 > > FX: +607 734-8278 > > Mobile: +607 769-4779 > > Email: [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > > > > > > > From: "Johnson, Joyce" < [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > > To: " [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> " < [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > > Date: 03/03/2015 03:14 PM > > Subject: secured PDFs > > Sent by: [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > > > > > > > We deliver user guides (software and hardware) to customers via > > password-protected pdfs, loaded onto servers and also posted on our > > customer web portal. > > > > I’m wondering how members of this group deliver customer-facing > > documents. > > Do you use pdfs? If so, do you secure those pdfs? If you secure them, how > > do you accommodate in-house colleagues who request unsecured pdfs so they > > can extract pages and images? > > > > Thanks in advance for your responses. > > > > Joyce > > > > Joyce M. Johnson > > AmerisourceBergen > > Lead Technical Writer > > Technology Group > > > > 1400 Busch Parkway > > Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 > > > > 847.808.5875 > > 888.537.3102 ext 15875 > > > > www.abtg.com > > > > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This electronic mail transmission may contain > > privileged and/or confidential information and is intended only for the > > review of the party to whom it is addressed. If you have received this > > transmission in error, please immediately return it to the sender, delete > > it and destroy it without reading it. 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