Distributing intellectual property and corporate data in digital format poses a lot of problems with security and the distribution of that property to persons unknown. Unlike original hard copy documents, digital files are easily copied, easily distributed to others or even published online, and they last forever.

The most commonly used file format for documents and drawings seems to be PDF and there are many solutions to copy protect PDF. Although the effectiveness of copy protection can vary greatly between different PDF security software brands, DRM, which is for the access rights management of the document (how, when and who can open it to view its contents), also varies in effectiveness. For example, requiring a password to open the PDF document or setting an expiry date is considered by many to be a form of DRM. But those methods are not very effective when passwords can be shared and expiration foiled by setting back the computer date.

PDF security software is also the best alternative to image protectsoftware when sending artwork, plans and drawings via the Internet. But because those digital files can be so easily shared, to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands, DRM is most necessary. To protect one's livelihood, only the best DRM should be trusted, and what can be better than locking digital rights access to the individual user's computer?

That is why the CopySafe PDF Protection software is the professional choice where one's livelihood is at stake. Its copy protection is second to none and the DRM that it employs cannot be thwarted or exploited in any way. To open a DRM protected PDF, the user must have access rights which they can confirm with a username and password, and after the PDF reader checks the online DRM database to validate their account and their right to open that particular document, their computer ID is recorded against their DRM account so that anyone using a different computer can no longer use that login.

Other advantages of using live call-to-home DRM validation is that usage can be logged for views and prints, thus enabling more limitations than normally possible. For example a limit can be set to the number of prints or views of a document by each user. Likewise, expiration can be more sophisticated and instead of simply expiring by calendar date which normally applies to all users and needs to be reset when expiration nears, expiry can now be set according to a number of days/hours from each user's first opening of the PDF document.

Authors are also able to monitor the usage of their users and see if and when a particular user has viewed each document. In the case of tutors confirming that students have indeed done a course those statistics can be most useful. The same logging and statistic reports can also show who else has been trying to access PDF documents that were not assigned to them.