Electronic Distribution of Copyrighted User Guides

A major client of mine is considering distributing their user guides
(for custom-developed software) on CD-ROM.

As a documentation professional for over 10 years and a copyright aware individual, I agree with my client's original intent to convert their existing Word documents into a harder-to-edit Adobe PDF format.
(Most users have Word. Word document 'protection' is very easy to
break. Most users do not have Adobe Acrobat editing tools - only viewers. This makes the PDF delivery mechanism more copyright-friendly IMO.) Some members of the working group think that delivering the Word documents on a CD is just fine - that there is no need to worry about copyright, users editing documents, or users holding 'us' liable for the contents of documents that look like ours but in fact were edited after we delivered.

There are some additional issues involved because the client is a financial institution and the software in question is used during the course of a fiduciary relationship. These issues are handled for the software in the software license; we are concerned that by delivering potentially-editable documents, we are in essence no longer limiting our liability and diluting our copyright.

Any pointers on specific copyright issues applicable to this situation or case studies are greatly appreciated.

-- 
Pamela Finkel
<esoteric[_at_]inch.com>