Why does Canon watermark their manuals

[FunPhotons]

with the word "Copy"?


It's a PDF. Electronic copy. By definition. They can't send me an 'original' PDF, those bits (or the representation of them) were sent over a dozen networks to get to me.

But right in the middle of the damn thing I have to stare at this watermark on every page. Is this because if I somehow managed to print it, in the same small form factor they do (bound and sized appropriately), that it would be obvious I was making a fake. Seriously? 

[bbb34]

Don't look for a reasonable explanation. This idiocy is just a result of bored and deluded lawyers.

[Marsu42]

Is this because if I somehow managed to print it, in the same small form factor they do (bound and sized appropriately), that it would be obvious I was making a fake. Seriously? 

This is the only explanation I was able to come up with when I saw the watermark - some people or enterprises seem to go over the top when it's about ip protection, be it text or software. Just read what recently happened with ea and sim city when they overdid it with copy protection and forgot that there are users out there who are hampered as a (bit) side effect.

[iKenndac]

I think comparing the watermark in a PDF manual to the SimCity fiasco is stretching things to say the least.

Personally, I think, like many corporations, Canon will have somewhere a policy that says "If it wasn't printed by us, it needs to be identified as such". For a place as large as Canon, have one policy will be much simpler and lead to less mistakes - I imagine they'd rather have the word "Copy" on their manuals than miss it on an important contract and have trouble.

[arjay]

As an interesting aside, on my (very old) Mac, the watermark shows when viewing the manual in Preview (default app) but not when viewing in Adobe Reader.

[rporterfield]

It does not show up for me using Foxit Reader.

[Harv]

If memory serves me, some time back Canon stated that their PDF files viewed with older versions of Acrobat Reader would show the watermark, but not the later versions.  It may have something to do with the version of Acrobat Reader you are using.  I think.

[brett b]

That's always kinda bugged me, too. Not a big deal, but weird. I noticed it very recently, but I believe I was on my iPad at the time.
I'll have to open it in Acrobat to see if it doesn't show. Thanks, Harv!

[Mt Spokane Photography]

It does not show in my old version of Adobe Acrobat 8 (Standard), but its locked and I can't print it.  Its a full version, not a reader.
 
I then tried it in Adobe Reader X and it did not show either.
 
I did not spot any obvious settings to turn it on or off, but there is probably something that toggles visibility of a watermark.

[RS2021]

If memory serves me, some time back Canon stated that their PDF files viewed with older versions of Acrobat Reader would show the watermark, but not the later versions.  It may have something to do with the version of Acrobat Reader you are using.  I think.

I have the most recent full version acrobat....but it still shows the annoying "copy" watermark... may be the settings can be changed to not show it? I don't really know...but I don't have the patience to research it in detail...its not that big of a distraction.

[Rienzphotoz]

I use Adobe Acrobat X Pro in my MBP and it does not show the watermark and even the printouts do not show the watermark.
There are plenty of free alternatives to Adobe Acrobat, use those and your problem will be solved ... here are a few you may want to use:
Nitro Pdf
Foxit
PDF Rider
PDF Meta
Quick Pdf Tools
IPdf Express
There are plenty more ... just google

[Harry Muff]

I just went on a bit of an expedition around the internet looking to solve this problem.




Basically, you can't.




It's password protected so Acrobat won't re-save it as a Word document or allow you to simply remove the watermark.


All the pdf to Word converters I tried either didn't work or made an almighty mess of the layout.




Oh well...

[darkhound]

i have a better question.  why are you reading a stupid manual long enough to be bored by a watermark?

[Cariboucoach]

I bought a used 40D without the manual so I went to Canon and downloaded the manual as a PDF.  In my version, you can't see the watermark "COPY" on the screen, but when I printed it out it showed.  I was surprised and a little put off.  But it is still very readable.

[Rienzphotoz]

I just went on a bit of an expedition around the internet looking to solve this problem.




Basically, you can't.




It's password protected so Acrobat won't re-save it as a Word document or allow you to simply remove the watermark.


All the pdf to Word converters I tried either didn't work or made an almighty mess of the layout.




Oh well...

No need to go on any "expedition", just download any one of the latest free PDF convertors and open the manual with that and you will not have the watermark show up, either on your system or when you print it out.