Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!elroy!forsight!jato!herron.uucp!jbrown From: jbrown@herron.uucp (Jordan Brown) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: Dbase compilers information Message-ID: <42@herron.uucp> Date: 27 Apr 89 09:48:40 GMT References: <1701@ccnysci.UUCP> <2430@cps3xx.UUCP> <13583@ncoast.ORG> Reply-To: jbrown@jato.jpl.nasa.gov Lines: 28 > Fox will be releasing FoxPro in a few months. I have seen it and used it; > it is real, not barely-condensing vapor. It is so different from dBase in > all the visual areas (not to mention better) that there is no possibility > of a legal attack on it by Ashton-Tate. One should keep in mind that the A-T lawsuit against Fox addresses not only visual aspects of the program, but the language and file formats. FoxPro's probably safe on visual stuff. I'm not so sure on the others. One quote from Ed Esber says that they intend to eventually attack every company which uses the dBASE file format as its "native format". Of course, screen display is the only area of "look-and-feel" to have been tested in court. It's not clear if languages and file formats *can* be copyrighted. *If* they can be copyrighted, I'd say A-T needs to pick on quite a few authors of dBASE books. I don't think it's reasonable that I could read a few books which never mention a dBASE copyright, implement a language and file handler based upon those books, and then be sued for copyright infringement. I think this lawsuit will do wonders to clear the air about "look-and-feel" copyrights, and establish the rules. I just hope that Fox has the bucks and the guts to take it through to court. My impression is that they do. --- These are my own opinions, not my employer's.