Hi, Just my take on it, but if developing software that reads ABI files would be illegal, I think Microsoft would already have sued Sun Microsystems for StarOffice being able to read/write in MS Office formats. So I do not think you have to worry about it.
Kind regards, Frans > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:biojava-l- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rich Heath > Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 5:59 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Biojava-l] File formats > > Hi, > > I am a software developer based in the UK that has > been asked about producing a piece of software that > outputs data from the files in ABI sequencers in a > more human readable format. I hope the > org.biojava.bio.program.abi package will let me do > this, but I have some concerns about the legal > implications of using and contributing to this > package. > > Does anyone know what the legal position is with > regards reverse engineering the Applied Biosystems > file format (and any other file formats come to that > matter)? I would imagine this file format is the > property of Applied Biosystems and they would not like > me producing applications that read from it unless I > provide them with a sizable licence fee (although I > guess I am not reverse engineering it if I just use > the above package, just if I contribute to it?). > > Many thanks in advance for your help, > > Rich > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! > Messenger http://mail.messenger.yahoo.co.uk > _______________________________________________ > Biojava-l mailing list - [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://biojava.org/mailman/listinfo/biojava-l _______________________________________________ Biojava-l mailing list - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://biojava.org/mailman/listinfo/biojava-l
