Question

How Open is PDF/A?

Records Management

Updated May 23, 2014

asked on May 22, 2014

Hello all (especially Records Keepers)

I'm working on an academic presentation and have a couple of questions around PDF/A.

As best as I can determine, PDF/A is currently an open standard based on a proprietary format. I'm looking for a definitive statement that Adobe can withdraw (or not) that status.

I can talk about the technical benefits of TIFF over PDF/A but it seems that with support from ISO 19005-1, PDF/A may have been released into the wild forever more.

I'll post to an RM forum at some point too but you all are my go-to today :)

My reading references can be supplied if you're interested.

Regards,

Ben

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replied on May 22, 2014

Since PDF 1.7, the PDF format is an ISO standard, see ISO 32000-1:2008. Since PDF/A-2 (ISO 19005-2:2011), the PDF/A standard has been based on ISO 32000-1. So I would challenge your assertion that PDF/A is based on a proprietary format - only PDF/A-1 is based on a version of PDF that is not released as an ISO standard (though I believe ISO 32000-1 includes specifications on which PDF features were available in previous versions).

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replied on May 23, 2014 • Show version history

Hi Mathew,

As you said, PDF/A is based on a version of PDF (proprietary) but may or may not be proprietary itself.

I don't have access to ISO 32000-1 either but as far as I know the ISO look after some aspects of PDF functionality. But that's not an assertion, nor was anything in my original post... I'm asking how to find and sources for the various commentary I've been reading.

-Ben

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replied on May 22, 2014

PDF started out as a proprietary document exchange format, but is now an open format. There may be patents which cover certain aspects of PDF generation or rendering (e.g., JBIG2 compression), but virtually everything in PDF is accessible without a need for a license. AFAIK, all patent holders of technology relevant to PDF creation and rendering are willing to negotiate a licensing of their patents on non-discriminatory terms.

At this point, Adobe doesn't have special legal rights over ISO 32000 or ISO 19005 and cannot "revoke" the right of implementers to make use of PDF technology. The copyrights to the ISO standards are held by the ISO and not Adobe.

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replied on May 23, 2014

Hi Michael,

Again, I haven't found any sources to confirm but I recall reading or hearing somewhere that Adobe have released the PDF (and perhaps PDF/A) information royalty-free to the world. However "royalty free" isn't the same as open-source (again, not an IP lawyer but it's my understanding.)

However, the distinction is important and I believe it was one of the many factors Laserfiche considered when deciding to standardise on TIFF rather than PDF. I hadn't intended to get into Laserfiche politics here and am -not- asking Laserfiche to justify their TIFFvsPDF decision, just hoping to prompt you for some discussion on the topic.

-Ben

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How Open is PDF/A?

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