Can I restrict Font extraction from a PDF?

[lpsandaruwan]

I have seen a lot of font extraction tools for pdf files. So If I want to embed a font in a pdf file, can I restrict extracting it or can I add a legal notice for font inside the pdf file? Or is there a way to transfer font copyright notice to pdf while making the pdf?

[Test Screen Name]

No. Adobe do not allow font extraction, but if a font is inside a PDF then someone with a disregard for intellectual property rights can write a tool to extract the font. Such software authors are unlikely to respect font right flags or display a copyright notice. The font must be readable, since the PDF must be displayed.

However, such tools are not so useful because most fonts are subsetted in PDF. An extracted subsetted font is usually of very limited use unless the PDF happened to use all the characters in the font. If you are concerned to protect your fonts be sure they are subsetted. An exception to this is form fields, which do need the whole font.