Adobe, FedEx Kinko’s Pact Creates Firestorm —Michelson

“You are (also) in a contract with us,” responded one association executive. “Contracts can be broken. That’s something your attorneys may not understand, but your marketing people sure do.” The advisory group also balked when Chizen floated the idea of Adobe giving other printers branded plug-ins to distribute to their clients. In addition, Adobe execs noted there are technical instructions on how to remove the button on the company’s Website.

The bottom line: Adobe made a mistake by including the “send to FedEx Kinko’s” button in 8.1 versions of Adobe Acrobat and Reader. Hopefully, management now realizes it should have been developed as a branded plug-in for FedEx Kinko’s to distribute to its own customer base, rather than as a standard software feature distributed by Adobe to all users of Adobe Acrobat and Reader 8.1.

Adobe promised to issue a formal response to this controversial matter by August 1, too late for the outcome to be reported here. Either way, if the software developer doesn’t douse the flames by either breaking its contract with FedEx Kinko’s—even if it means suffering whatever financial penalties may be written into the contract for an early termination—or by making non-branded, 8.2 versions of the two software programs available, an industry firestorm of opposition will surely burn out of control.

Mark T. Michelson