Topic: AutoCAD 2017 PDF Import

[hudster]

With the new version of AutoCAD being able to import PDFs and revert them back to drawings, (as long they are printed from AutoCAD to begin with), how are you guys taking steps to protect your workflow?
We never, ever send out DWG's with our title blocks attached, due to copyright issues, and problems in the past of other companies taking our drawings, altering them and then using them on site, with our logo attached, with the new PDF import this could become an issue for us again.
I'm considering digital signatures for our PDFs, but I'm not too sure of its security yet.

[Rob...]

Simple, nothing.

It's that age old question that comes up again and again. There is nothing you can do to prevent this from happening. Any drafter worth his salt can replicate a print with or without the added functionality. It's even easier to make a change to just part of it. If you have not had a problem with this in the past, I wouldn't worry about it. If you have a had a problem with it, I hope something was done to remediate it.

[ChrisCarlson]

Honestly your best course of action is to have conversations with these perpetrators. If they don't want to abide by your policies, well their business is not worth it. 

As Rob says there is nothing you can really do aside from using paper copies with security threads and ink. Even that isn't too secure unfortunately, just ask the US mint.

[mjfarrell]

If the quality of the conversion is no better than the small tests I've seen, there were still need to be considerable effort
involved in cleaning up any 'drawing' extracted from the PDF.

On another note, IF  you have hard evidence of others using, or re-using your company name, logo, etc
it would be a good time to have a lawyer send them a cease and desist order.  And or prepare for other legal action
against them.

[Dave M]

You could also make the pdf raster format.

[rkmcswain]

This is nothing new. In fact, AutoCAD is pretty late to this party, others have been doing this for years.

Handle it contractually and not try to stop it with technology.

[cadtag]

This is nothing new. In fact, AutoCAD is pretty late to this party, others have been doing this for years.

Handle it contractually and not try to stop it with technology.

Generally the best way -- but Open Records (aka Sunshine) laws will frequently require that documents be publicly available.  If you're really concerned and wanting a tech band-aid , all you can do is make it harder.  Possibly convert your submitted PDFs to TIF Raster format, and then convert back to PDF.  Or scan the hardcopies to PDF.

bearing in mind that it's just a bandaid... 

[Crank]

[...] all you can do is make it harder.  Possibly convert your submitted PDFs to TIF Raster format, and then convert back to PDF.  Or scan the hardcopies to PDF.
[...]

Change the visual style in your DWG to be 3d "wireframe" instead of 2d!
AutoCAD will create a raster-PDF when plotting any 3D visual style.