archiver wanted

[Roy M. Silvernail]

In article <15442 at vlsisj.VLSI.COM>, davidc at vlsisj.VLSI.COM (David Chapman) writes:
> PKARC and PKXARC were actually "stolen" from ARC.  The latter is a copyrighted
> program written by System Enhancement Associates.  
[...]
> 
> P.S. "Stolen" means that SEA sued the author of PKARC and PKXARC and won an
>      out-of-court settlement that resulted in the removal of the PK programs 
>      from the market.  He's now written PKZIP, I think, which is supposed to 
>      be better and faster (and legal), but I don't have it.

I think I have to take some vigerous exception, David. You have used
some pretty strong language to describe a situation about which you
*obviously* have preconceived opinions.

While it's true that SEA sued Phil Katz over PKARC, it is *not at all*
clear that any code was stolen. Phil settled out-of-court because of
economic constraints. Since the suit was settled, Phil introduced PKZIP
which leaves ARC in the file-archiving dust.

SEA had maintained that the primary reason for their suit was the string
"ARC", as used by both SEA and PK for the file extension of the archived
file. Evidence of stolen code was never convincingly produced, and the
single 'expert witness' has since suffered impaired credibility. It is
*very* interesting, by the way, to note that SEA has made no similar
attempt to protect their 'trademark' from the appearance of LHarc. In
fact, a recent GEnie roundtable with Thom Henderson produced some
questions from Phil Katz about this very point. I don't have the file at
hand, but Henderson refused to comment several times, and finally, he
grudgingly admittedd that SEA would not persue LHarc for infringement.

Ok, soapbox off... but I'm surprised you don't have PKZIP. All the BBS
systems I frequent use the ZIP compressor, and many of these systems
refuse to permit ARCfiles at all. (so much for the grand victory)

-- 
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