Adobe fights for font-embedding rights

Adobe filed a lawsuit in the US on Tuesday, asking for declaratory relief to resolve a contractual dispute that Adobe has the right to permit its customers to embed ITC (International Typeface Corp) fonts in electronic documents. Adobe said in a statement that it tried to resolve the dispute with Monotype and ITC, but those attempts were unsuccessful. Adobe is also filing an arbitration proceeding in London seeking affirmation of the same contractual rights with respect to Monotype fonts. "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, ITC and Agfa Monotype are claiming that Adobe Acrobat violates certain provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Adobe said that it believes these claims are being made to gain ITC and Agfa leverage in the contractual disputes. Adobe said it strongly disputes this claim, and is asking the court to rule that there is no violation of the DMCA.