revoke individual user access to single, multiple, or all documents
revoke access automatically after a number of views and/or prints
Watermark
Add dynamic watermarks to viewed and or printed pages. Dynamic variables (date/time, user name, company name, email address) are replaced with actual user and system data when the protected PDF document is displayed and/or printed.
You only have to protect a document once in order to customize it for multiple users.
see what devices & operating systems users are using
Comply Law
Comply with legislation by controlling access and use:
Ensure only authorized parties can view confidential documents
Enforce document retention policies with automatic expiry
Log use for proof of when documents are viewed and printed
Benefits
Protect IPR, reduce costs, ensure compliance, gain new revenue:
Protect revenue and increase ROI – reduce losses and costs
Take control over your IPR, prevent document leakage & theft
No cost per document or user – one fixed price for unlimited use
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“Fantastic product… outstanding support.”
“We would recommend Locklizard to others”
“The clear leader for PDF DRM protection”
“Our ebook sales have gone through the roof”
“Simple & secure – protects IPR from theft”
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The development of copyright and fair use
In a separate white paper we mentioned that one of the earliest developments in copyright law was the doctrine of Anne that was established in England to control the license to make copies. Before that time, the monarch had the ability to give (or sell) rights, and often did so.
The term patent comes from ‘letters patent’ (an official document granting a right or privilege) that a monarch or government created that gave the holder an absolute monopoly or right.
Like all law, copyright law was a purely national affair, and was developed to regulate internal markets. As a result, some nations chose to recognize copyright as existing from the moment of creation of a work (book, play, poem, picture, photograph and so on) whilst other introduced different tests – originality, proof that novelty was present, sweat of the brow in creation of the work, performance of the play or musical work – in order to prove that the work was worthy of copyright, or formal registration with a national authority (just as patents are registered today, although with lower tests by the registration authority).
Naturally, each country only recognized it’s own copyright authority and took no notice at all of any others. WS Gilbert and AS Sullivan, creators of the famous Savoy Operas, often had to perform their works in England to get the copyright there, and then race to the USA to then perform the work there or risk someone else getting the copyright, because the USA did not recognize performance in any other country as valid in the USA.
More than that, each nation chose to create and give different rights to copyright holders. So in some countries a work would remain in copyright until 50 years after the death of the last author, whilst in others it could be 85 years. And in some countries you could sell all the copyright rights in a work (a book can become a play, a musical, a film) whilst in others there were ‘inalienable rights’ that the author retained forever and could not be taken away by contract.
Not surprisingly, copyright rapidly became a matter of international trade as well as internal trade. To give you a feeling for how long copyright law has been in development internationally, perhaps the three major international copyright organizations and their start dates are:
The Berne Convention (1886 with subsequent revisions)
The Universal Copyright Convention (USA, finalized in 1952 with subsequent revisions)
World Intellectual Property Organization (1996 with subsequent revisions)
Copyright & IPR Protection
The World Trade Organization identifies IPR as a critical issue for the modern world. But they are concentrating on science, medicine, computer programs, music and entertainment more than the printed word. See their papers on TRIPS at their website – www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/trips_e.htm
Needless to say, even though there are international conventions, not all nations have signed up to all the provisions of the very latest versions, and some legislation such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA some feel are being pushed to be introduced into other countries national laws.
How does this affect you? Well, anyone doing business over the Internet selling copyright works is affected by international copyright whether you like it or not.
Just as with any media, you have an inherent right to control the distribution of content. This extends to images, text, video, etc. However, legally holding the rights to a work does very little to prevent it from being copied and distributed without your permission. You can add a copyright symbol and disclaimer to your PowerPoint slides for example or copyright a document in Word, but it’s likely it’ll just be ignored and can be easily removed. If copyright notices were an effective way of preventing unauthorized distribution, piracy would be virtually non-existent.
The reality is that if you are an individual trader or a small business then it is very difficult for you to rely upon the law to protect your IPR. Only large companies can really afford to litigate in order to reinforce their rights.
If another organization publishes this paper without our authority the only practical thing we can do is to publicize the fact. You may like to read the following article that points out some of the myths and practical realities of copyright and copyright enforcement: Copyright Myths – 10 big myths about copyright explained
There are many helpful references to the development of copyright law on the web, and several counter opinions suggesting that there should be no such thing as copyright.
Copyright and Fair Use
In most countries, national (sometimes referred to as public) policy has developed giving the public some rights in access to and use of published information called ‘fair use’.
This developed in order to prevent copyright owners from gaining a monopoly over information, and thus being able to prevent people from having access to information. This may seem a strange concept to modern publishers, but it had a very powerful impact in a world where publishing was still a relatively slow business.
If a work was copyrighted, the owner of the copyright could charge any price they wished for the work, and could prevent any commentary on the work, and any criticism (either of the content or the quality or the accuracy) because you would not be able to quote (copy) the copyrighted work in order to demonstrate your criticism.
(Since we mentioned Gilbert and Sullivan earlier, until the 1960s it was only possible to perform their work under license from the D’Oyly Carte, and you had to perform it in exactly the manner set by them and using the costumes specified by them. The modern productions we are now so familiar with were quite impossible to stage.)
So ‘fair use’ was developed so that people could study copyright works for private use, could write parodies and criticisms, and public libraries were born. The plays of Shakespeare, the music of Beethoven and the books of Mark Twain were available to all.
Of course, the concept of fair use sits uncomfortably with the idea of copyright giving an author unlimited rights to control the copying and use of their information. Authors are probably rather less worried by it than (say) the film, games or software industries. But fair use remains an important aspect of the copyright system and should be born in mind when devising copyright protection schemes. More information on fair use may be found at Copyright – Fair use of images.
Customer Testimonials
We needed to deliver e-book versions of our handbooks while not compromising on security and digital rights. Safeguard PDF security is easy to use and intuitive.
The implementation was painless and we now have a greener, more secure way of distributing training manuals.
Locklizard’s PDF protection is exactly as described – the features are highly effective and I would give it 5 stars.
I would recommend Locklizard to others - their security is simple to use and fit for purpose. It meets common needs of businesses who have information they want to protect.
We would be happy to recommend Locklizard to any company needing a flexible way to secure PDF files.
Safeguard PDF Security has provided us with a very workable solution for sharing of information in a secure fashion. The support has been excellent and very accommodating.
We can cut accounts for a user five minutes before his class starts and he is ready to go. Happy smiling customer, while we still have security and personalized watermarking.
I have immense respect for the product and Locklizard provide great customer satisfaction and service.
We would recommend Safeguard to other companies for its security, cost and ease of use. It does what we expected it to do and more.
Ease of use is a bonus and the implementation was very easy. The product manual is excellent and Locklizard staff are very accommodating.
We sell a highly valued educational product in an open and competitive market so it was important to ensure we had effective security to protect our digital rights.
We highly recommend Locklizard - a professional company with a competitive and professional PDF Security product.
We would absolutely recommend both Locklizard as a company, and Safeguard PDF Security. It has transformed our study materials to the next level.
Not only did this increase sales, but we also believe that it has increased our customers’ ability to learn, which is even more important!
We would recommend Locklizard Safeguard to other companies that need to protect PDF reports. Customers have found the process of accessing the protected documents to be seamless.
Implementation was easy and technical support has been very responsive to requests for help.
Our company would without reservation recommend Locklizard. Their document DRM software opens up delivery of our new products in a timely fashion while knowing that the content will remain secure.
The return on investment to our company has been immediately evident.
We use Safeguard to make sure that documents cannot be opened outside our local network or from a unauthorized computer in order to copy or print the documents.
It is the most feature rich, affordable, & simple to use PDF security product on the market.
Safeguard PDF Security is simple to administer and meets our needs, consistently delivering secured manuals to our customers with ease.
Return on investment has been elimination of many man hours, printing resources and postage – it is estimated that costs decreased by 50% or more.
We would really recommend Safeguard PDF Security to every publishing company for managing ePubs or e-books securely. It is easy to secure PDF files and simple to distribute them to our authorized customers only.
Locklizard also provides a good customer support experience.
The ROI for us is incalculable. We have the security of knowing that our proprietary documents are secure. This is the entire value of our company.
I would most certainly recommend your PDF security product and already have. The ease of implementation was surprising.
We can now sell our manuals without the need to print them first, saving time, money and helping safeguard the environment.
We would recommend Safeguard PDF DRM – it is the perfect solution to sell and send e-documents securely whilst making sure someone cannot copy them.
We would recommend Locklizard to other companies without hesitation.
Their PDF DRM products provide a manageable, cost effective way to protect intellectual investment and they are always looking for ways to improve them. Moreover, their staff provide an excellent level of support.
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The development of copyright and fair use
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