AcroPDFlib, AxAcroPDFLib commercial use

Question

I'm C# developer and i'd like to use this libraries: AcroPDFlib, AxAcroPDFLib

from Visual Studio COM References. Is it't legal to sell software which using these libraries ? I know that it's required to have installed Adobe Reader on PC.

Can I sell it without contact with Adobe ? It's not easy to find clear find clear information.

Best regards, Baton.

Answer 1

No it is not legal. The current license fee is:

One-time License Fee - $5,000

The following libraries are from Adobe and you need to get any license if you want to sell it commercial.

http://www.datalogics.com/products/pdfl

The following files are wrappers and there is no need of license of a wrapper:

AxInterop.AcroPDFLib.dll

Interop.AcroPDFLib.dll

But if you are downloading these both files from anywhere in the internet, it is not legal to sell it to your customers. The original files

AxInterop.AcroPDFLib.dll

Interop.AcroPDFLib.dll

Are needed and then, you need a license. Pay attention using http://wpfpdfviewer.codeplex.com/ for reading PDF files. It is not for free for commercial as it seems to be.

Answer 2

@Piotr Knut is correct, you are free to distribute these libraries as long as the user has Reader or Acrobat installed.

When my development team encountered this thread we engaged our Vendor Management department for clarification directly from Adobe. The response from Adobe was

The complete list of the APIs are listed in the SDK documentation: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/acrobat/acrobat_dc_sdk/2015/HTMLHelp/#t=Acro12_MasterBook%2FAPI_References_SectionPage%2FAPI_References%2FAcrobat_API_Reference%2Findex.html You are free to use any of these to build the app.

Answer 3

http://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/acrobat/pdf-reader/volume-distribution.html http://www.adobe.com/products/clients/all_dist_agreement.html

Even though it's free you still need an agreement (license) in order to distribute.