Adobe Takes Legal Action to Resolve Disputes with Agfa Monotype and ITC
Press release from the issuing company
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Sept. 3, 2002--Adobe Systems Incorporated, the leader in network publishing, today announced it has asked the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., for declaratory relief to resolve a contractual dispute that Adobe has the right to permit its customers to embed ITC (International Typeface Corporation) fonts in electronic documents. Adobe is also filing an arbitration proceeding in London seeking affirmation of the same contractual rights with respect to Monotype fonts. Adobe attempted to resolve this matter informally with Monotype and ITC, but was unsuccessful.
By taking these actions, Adobe hopes to resolve these issues for its customers.
"Many years ago Adobe anticipated the shift to electronic documents. At that time, we obtained the embedding rights from our font partners necessary to permit the creation of electronic documents," said Jim Heeger, senior vice president, cross-media products. "We are now defending the rights we obtained for our customers to continue to conduct business in the electronic age."
In addition, Adobe has asked the court to declare that Adobe's popular Acrobat product does not violate certain provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) as claimed by ITC and Agfa Monotype. Adobe believes these claims are being made to gain ITC and Agfa leverage in the contractual disputes. Adobe strongly disputes this claim and is asking the court to rule that there is no violation of the DMCA.