Clarification for Pro 8 EULA

Question

I'd like to receive some clarification on an issue I
certainly feel deserves it. Please keep in mind any reference to
"original media" need not be digital at all or in any way under the
control of Adobe before being loaded or converted to PDF format.
Please reference the text from the EULA below (on an
Acrobat-installed machine found at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat
8.0\Acrobat\Legal\en_US):
14.13.1.1 "Deploy" means to deliver or otherwise make available,
directly or indirectly, by any means, an Extended Document to one
or more recipients.
14.13.1.2 "Extended Document" means a Portable Document
Format file manipulated by Acrobat Professional Software to enable
the ability to locally save documents with filled-in PDF forms.
14.13.3 For any unique Extended Document, you may only
either (a) Deploy such Extended Document to an unlimited number of
unique recipients but shall not extract information from more than
five hundred (500) unique instances of such Extended Document or
any hardcopy representation of such Extended Document containing
filled form fields; or (b) Deploy such Extended Document to no more
than five hundred (500) unique recipients without limits on the
number of times you may extract information from such Extended
Document returned to you filled-in by such Recipients.
Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, obtaining
additional licenses to use Acrobat Professional shall not increase
the foregoing limits (that is, the foregoing limits are the
aggregate total limits regardless of how many additional licenses
to use Acrobat Professional you may have obtained).
As I currently interpret these lines in regards to form
submission and Usage Rights 14.13.3 sentence a) refers to the
extraction of information from 500 unique instances of the document
or a hardcopy representation thereof. Since this sentence refers to
the Extended Document which is inherently an instance of the file
itself I have interpreted as others have that the ultimate
determinant and initial starting point for scope of these terms
would be the file itself. Many developers are thus designing their
apps to assume the role of file-instance tracking where, for
example, a new package file could be manually created in
Professional 8 from combined documents, have Usage Rights Enabled
and then be re-used as a separate and digitally unique Extended
Document after 500 is reached - per the terms of the EULA. In this
way the instance of the file is tracked and removed from Deployment
when the limit is met. There should be no insinuation in regards to
this EULA discriminating against original media used to create the
Extended Document, as these paragraphs specifically define the
final "Extended Document" or the Deployed file itself as the basis
for their language. I am not putting this in here to cause any
debate, but merely to advise on my own and others' interpretation
of the EULA in regards to what seems to be a very clear
explanation, and a topic of interest to many developers who wish to
make full use of the power Acrobat Professional 8 provides - while
acting in accordance with said EULA.
In short there should be no bearing on the original media or
their likeness (not necessarily digital or under any control of
Adobe whatsoever at this point - as in before being loaded into or
converted by Acrobat) in regards to the final created PDF file as a
Usage Rights Enabled, or dare I say, Extended Document, correct? In
my own professional interpretation as a developer this would be a
correct understanding of your EULA. After all I would hope that
Adobe would foster the sort of development and progression in web
applications that this would afford without having to curtail to
specific languages or existing, marketed technologies.
I would like to hear confirmation or clarification from an
Adobe rep concerning this.
I am mainly bringing this to light after reading the reference
to hardcopy, but this should not be a problem as this clearly
refers to the "extraction of information from...any hardcopy
representation of such Extended Document", which would be after the
Extended Document is created and in regards to it's submission, and
so I am also verifying the ability to use similar original media in
the creation of a new Extended Document (and inherently a
completely new file) to be Deployed as this does not seem to be
contrary to the EULA. I do appreciate the time.

Answer 1

quote:
This is a user to user forum. Have you contacted Adobe
Customer Support or cantacted an attorney about your legal
question? An answer here is not binding on Adobe.
Oh don't worry I'm not trying to bind anyone and I have sent
a request to Adobe Customer Support but was hoping to gain insight
on the re-use of original media used to create the PDF and what
others' experiences may have been in regards to their professional
adherence to the EULA.
quote:
Try asking your question in the Acrobat Windows or Acrobat
Macintosh forum, as these forums deal with the Acrobat Standard of
Professional products and not the conferencing product Acrobat
Connect.
Yes, I was hoping these forums deal with Acrobat Standard or
Professional as I am talking about Acrobat Professional 8, I don't
know why you think my question was related to Acrobat Connect, I
don't even know what that is.
Contrary to what seems to be the "trend" on most tech-forums
nowadays it was my hope that any subsequent replies would focus on
the issue and/or topic at hand, although I would agree that an
official answer would come direct from Adobe. Did not mean to
direct such an official inquiry to the public but I am attempting
to engage in General Discussion here after all. I will certainly
take your advice to push the issue with Adobe, however I am also
interested in the interpretation of developers such as yourself.
These things happen with such a vague EULA - although when I
rationalize the very terms they have defined it does not seem so
vague, which is where my desire for confirmation would come from.
If no one else feels like providing any insight then I will
certainly have to see if I can come to some finality with an Adobe
rep.