SECOND EDITION OF FIGHTSEA.ARC/Released Sept. 25, 1988 --------------------------------------------------------- SEA vs. PKWARE Shareware Company Threatens BBS World That Gave It Life --------------------------------------------------------- Last April, System Enhancement Associates, vendors of the archive utility ARC, filed suit against Phil Katz, author of the archive programs PKARC and PKXARC, and his company PKWARE. SEA claimed trademark infringement on the name "ARC," and violation of their copyright on the "look and feel" of ARC's command-line user- interface, in addition to charging Katz with appropriating ARC program code. The company demanded all profits from PKARC and PKXARC, treble damages, statutory damages at the highest level allowed, and attorney fees. It also requested that all copies of PKARC and PKXARC, from those owned by bulletin board users to those licensed by businesses, be impounded, and that Katz be barred from ever again selling or distributing the programs. In August, SEA and PKWARE settled out of court. SEA obtained the source code for PKARC and PKXARC, and PKWARE's customer list, and Katz was required to pay SEA royalties on the program back to 1985, in addition to attorney's fees and legal expenses--an amount that, according to documents on file at the Milwaukee County Federal Courthouse, totals $62,500. He also agreed not to use the word "arc" in a trademark sense. Under the settlement Katz is permitted to license his PKARC and PKXARC programs (or PKPAK and PKUNPAK, as they are now called) from SEA until January 31, 1989. (Anyone who licenses PKPAK and/or PKUNPAK from Katz prior to then may continue to use those versions of the program perpetually, even after January 31, 1989.) Recently SEA filed contempt of court charges against Katz. While the company has kept details of their allegations under seal, they appear to be alleging that any use of the word "arc" by Katz, even as a descriptive or generic term (for instance, to refer to the act of achiving a file--whether one is using SEA's ARC or ZOO or any other archiving utility--as "arcing" it) is in violation of the settlement. SEA has lately been contacting other software developers whose products make use of the ARC file format and threatening legal action. Gary Conway, author of NARC, an archive extraction utility, was contacted by the company, which tried to pressure him to license the ARC format and turn over the source code of NARC. Don Kinzer of Polytron received a similar call from Thom Henderson of SEA. Henderson told Kinzer that if a software product had the ability to read an ARC file--not create or extract it, merely read it--SEA would require the vendor to obtain a license from SEA. Settlement Issues and Rumor Mongering As part of the PKWARE-SEA settlement, both parties agreed to refrain from any comment on the settlement. Not surprisingly, unfounded rumors about the settlement have proliferated. One such rumor is that the judge in the PKWARE-SEA case had an outside consultant compare SEA's and Katz's source code. When the consultant found plagiarized code in PKARC, the story goes, Katz settled quickly to save face. Not true. No attorneys for either SEA or Katz had ever met with the judge prior to the settlement, and at no time did the judge ever retain an expert or himself see the source code. The real issues in the case were SEA's charges that Katz had copied ARC's program code and that he had violated the company's trademark on the word "arc." In regard to the first complaint, there are only two pieces of code in ARC with non-trivial algorithm: the squeeze code and the crunch code. SEA copied these almost verbatim from public domain sources. Katz's use of the same public domain sources resulted in a program that ran four times faster than the then current version of SEA's ARC. No competent programmer could ever conclude that Katz had plagiarized SEA code. SEA's claim that it owns a trademark on the word "arc" is, as one UUCP mail user noted, like Digital Equipment insisting that it owns the word "equipment." The word "arc" as an abbreviation for "archive" has been in the public domain long before either SEA or PKWARE entered the scene. Any word which has become a part of popular parlance, as "arc" has, cannot be protected as a trademark. Nevertheless, SEA claims that no one else can use this word to describe their archive utilities, and that Katz used it to intentionally confuse users and capitalize on the popularity of SEA's ARC. Finally, SEA claimed in its lawsuit that Katz violated the copyright on the "look and feel" of ARC's user-interface. Anyone who has ever used both ARC and PKARC knows that neither touts an interface that is anything more than a few commands and switches entered at the DOS command line. There are no menus. There are no full-screen displays. There is nothing artistic or seminal in the interface of either. Yet, SEA argued in its suit that Katz "substantially copied and plagiarized the entire appearance and user interface and screens which result when a computer user interacts with or uses [ARC]." By the same logic the author of Fido bulletin board software may as well sue the designer of RBBS. (Note: If you have any questions about the SEA suit, please see the copy of the complaint filed in that suit which has been circulating on bulletin boards and on-line services. A press statement concerning the settlement is also in circulation.) Why You As a User Should Care Over the past year the popularity of Katz's PKARC/PKXARC programs among both bulletin board and business users surpassed that of SEA's ARC by a wide margin. Many consider the suit that SEA waged against PKWARE, as well as the company's subsequent legal bullying of other shareware archive software developers, as legal coercion intended solely to drive its competitors out of business--a tactic not unheard of in the computer industry. Defending your software against a suit such as the one filed by SEA against PKWARE can run from $100,000 into the millions, as copyright and patent suits are the most costly forms of litigation to defend against. If your product is not grossing over a million in sales, you will be advised (nay, forced by economics) to seek an early settlement--as Katz did. Consider what this means if you're a Dan Bricklin-type programmer running a small software operation out of your home. The program you slaved over for months so that it might win you emancipation from your 9-to-5 job, you might be forced to destroy in a "legal settlement" over a bogus suit. (Some of us know people besides Katz to whom this has happened.) Consider what this means if you're a user. Your choice in software is being dictated, not by a software package's intrinsic merits, but legal manipulation. Legal manipulation that favors the litigant with the most money as opposed to the one with the best product. It also means that great programmers are spending their time in court when they could be busy creating better products for the marketplace. Unfortunately, legal experts are predicting an escalation in such suits over the next decade. What Can We Do? As a user you can stand up and say that you're not going to put up with companies that use the courts to strangle their competition, that employ lawyers and lawsuits to bully companies and independent programmers out of existence, that dish out frivolous suits rather than decent products. No, you do not have to take it anymore, and yes, you do have the power to change things. A number of bulletin board operators, to protest SEA's legal bullying of its competitors, have stopped using SEA's ARC to archive programs on their systems. Some have pulled SEA products from their file collections. We suggest that you likewise boycott SEA's ARC, as well as the company's SEADOG mail program, until the company desists its harassment of archive authors. But boycotts alone are rarely effective. We also ask that you write to SEA. Accompanying this file is a "form letter" to SEA (in the accompanying file LETTER.TXT) that you can print out, sign your name to, and mail. Feel free to add to or change anything in the letter. In addition, please upload this file and the accompanying file LETTER.TXT onto any bulletin board or on-line system that you call. If you are a sysop who supports this campaign we ask that you mention it in your board's introductory screen and ask users to download these files. If enough of us speak up and let it be known that we are opposed to this kind of misuse of the legal system, we will be sending a loud message to software vendors that the computer user community will not tolerate firms that attempt to drive their competitors out of business through legal harassment. Remember that together we have built the PC community into the most vibrant computer user community in history, and by uniting we can make it even better. Matt Anderson Sysop, Alaska EMS RBBS "I just read the file and got Fairbanks, Alaska very angry and would like to 907/463-4988 add my name to the list of BBS and concerned users that disagree Bruce Barnes with the suit." -- Forrest Litke Sysop, A Very Salty BBS Chicago, Illinois 312/772-2452 Ariel Benzakein "When SEA came out with the ARC Author, The Land of Adventure format, I banned it from the BBS System EXEC-PC BBS because the arcing Cincinnati, Ohio and unarcing programs from SEA Data: 513/821-6543 were too darn slow. As soon as PKware released the super fast Charles Bolton PKXARC and PKARC programs, I Sysop, West-World BBS approved the ARC format for the San Jose, California EXEC-PC BBS because processing 408/227-4865 the arc file format on the typical computer of the time (4.77 mhz PC) Tom Bowerman was no longer a test of user Sysop, Golden Springs BBS endurance and patience. The Washington speed of the PKware products made 205/238-0012 the arc format a valid format. Now that the SEA vs PKware suit has Rod Bowman confused all of us, angered many Sysop, PC Spectrum of us, and has brought the issue San Bernardino-Area, California to the forefront, it is time for 714/945-2612 some decisions." -- Bob Mahoney Tom Brady Sysop, Decibel Atlanta, Georgia 404/288-6858 Ed Branley Sysop, Minas Trinith RBBS New Orleans, Louisiana 504/455-8665 Ronald J. Bryant "I too will purge my BBS of all SEA Sysop, The Phoenix BBS programs and will encourage my users Green Rock, Illinois not to patronize SEA or use their 309/792-2543 programs." -- Ronald J. Bryant Paul E. Castle II Sysop, Dream Castle Encinitas, California 619/942-5164 "The question is: how an extension Mike Cook filename can become property of Sysop, Discovery Place someone ? How a file format can Oak Park, Illinois become property of someone ? I'm not 312/383-6335 registred (sic) to PK but i will send 30$ for solidariety. This Danyaon Coston-Clark time, Phil Katz must no agree Sysop, ACCESS: ONLINE BBS nothing with the f***** Ssea's Malverne, New York lawers, (sic) must WIN the SUIT. 516/887-5804 Excuse this, i'm too angry. A caller from italy." Mike Coticchio Sysop, Beginnings BBS Levittown, New York 516/796-7296 Juan Davila Sysop, Mega-D RBBS-PC Puerto Rico or Thereabouts "As a member of the development team 809/751-7728 of the GAP BBS system, we will no longer be supporting SeaLink as an Michael Davis internal protocol in our 3.0 release Sysop, Horizon RBBS-PC of the system. SeaLink is being Dallas, Texas replaced by Imodem, 1K Xmodem-g, and 214/881-9346 Ymodem-g." -- Darin May, AIM On- Line Services David Doss Sysop, Illinois State University's Applied Computer Science BBS 309/438-7370 Ron Fowler Author of MEX-PC Communications Program Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin John Friel III Author of Qmodem / Sysop, Qmodem PCBoard Cedar Rapids, Iowa 319/233-6157 "I am personally disgusted by the ARC suit, even more John Gefaell so than the Apple suit A Nickel's Worth Comunity BBS and have banned any SEA Charlottesville, Virginia files from my BBS and 804/977-8369 and encourage all other Sysops to do the same. Judy Getts Let's let this bully know Contributing Editor/Telecommunications that their tactics will PC World Magazine backfire on them." -- Carroll Hanks David Gibbs Sysop, The Midrange System Chicago, Illinois 312/439-9679 Ross Greenberg Co-Sysop, Illinois State Univerity's Applied Computer Science BBS Decature, Illinois 309/438-7370 "The campaign is strong in [Detroit]. ...Folks here are more intent on James A. Grettum sending Brucie's nasty letter than Sysop, RBBS-PC of Fargo the milktoast stuff." -- Craig Stahl Fargo, North Dakota 701/293-5973 Anil Gupte Sysop, Archinfo CADD BBS "Dear Mr. Henderson: Milwaukee, Wisconsin 414/276-2724 When I first learned of your suit against Phil Katz I was hardly Carroll Hanks surprised. Neither was I pleased. Sysop, PC Publisher After participating in several BBS Houston, Texas conversations in the Chicago area 713/448-1406 about the suit and talking with fellow SYSOP's, I made the Chris Harrower decision to remove your archive Co-Sysop, Lancaster Area BBS utility from the Chicago Computer Lancaster, Pennsylvania Society Bulletin Board System and 717/394-1357 announce my actions to the membership to the membership via BBS message. Andrew Hoag I received overwhelming support from Sysop, Satellite RBBS the Society....Decency requires that North Dakota when you make a business decision 701/232-3811 you accept the consequences like a grownup. You, obviously, are Ed Hopper determined to prevent users from Sysop, Ed Hopper's BBS benefiting from any [ARC] improve- Houston, Texas ments unless they accrue income 713/782-5454 to you....Sincerely, Peter G. Olivola" Jerry Hunter Sysop, DMC Switchboard Network RBBS-PC Arkansas 501/636-2810 Ray Johns "I have sent my letter to the scum at Author, Disk Meter Deluxe SEA and will make it #1 topic at my Co-Sysop, The Surf BBS BBS. We cannot let people like SEA Pebble Beach, California destroy shareware." -- Ray Johns 408/649-6148 Harry Johnson Sysop, The Surf BBS Pebble Beach, California 408/649-6148 Andy Jones Sysop, Everglad RBBS-PC "I am the technical lead for a Tampa-Area, Florida product sold by Computer Associates 813/992-5993 called (are you ready for this) ARCHIVER. It does pretty much the Bob Jones same thing as pkarc/pkxarc (and Sysop, BJ's RBBS-PC that other company's products, I Pasadena-Area, California forgot the name already). We use 818/248-1087 the words archiver, archive, and arc throughout the company, in Loren Jones speech, manuals, internal and Sysop, RBBS-PC of Chicago external doc's, etc....As far as Chicago, Illinois I know we (CA) have never heard 312/352-1005 from these SEA people. I wonder if they will take on CA Henry Kisor (the largest software only firm Sysop, Word Processing BBS in the world) or even BIG BLUE." Chicago, Illinois -- Michael Reaves 312/491-6995 Al Klein Sysop, a ham radio packet bbs Call signals: W2PMX Miller Place, NY Jeff Krueger Sysop, A Different BBS Chicago, Illinois 312/589-0074 "The very idea of their 'suit'. If I say I was incensed, that's Rick Lawsha like saying that the interior Sysop, STORK RBBS of the sun is warm. There are Galesburg-Area, Illinois no SEA products on any of my 309/342-0637 disks any longer and I am trying to convince my employer Frank Lech ...to do the same." -- Al Klein Sysop, Windy City BBS Chicago, Illinois 312/735-9553 Leonard Lee "This is uncalled for by Sysop, VoiceQuest RBBS Henderson." -- Leonard Lee Vicksburg, Massachusetts 601/638-3390 Forrest Litke Sysop, The Long Beach BBS Long Beach, California 213/438-6783 *.* Loban "I am also disgusted with SEA Sysop, Oregon Net and am urging users of my Anaheim-Area, California BBS to write letters to SEA.... 714/945-2612 I do not care if I have to shut down for a week; as soon Gene Lowry as I get an arc replacement Sysop, Bigfoot II RBBS-PC I will immediately convert Arizona every arc." -- Tom Bowerman 602/886-7943 Brian MacDonald Sysop, The Last Picture Show Anchorage, Alaska 907/349-6475 Robert Mahoney Sysop, Exec-PC BBS "I have banished all use of Milwaukee, Wisconsin ARC within my own business 414/964-5160 and from within my entire domain at my employer (a few Sal Manaro hundred machines). I would Sysop, Underdog's Mininet like to see all licensing Seattle, Washington of SEA software...stopped, 206/725-9233 and all licensing of any other vendor's software Jon Martin whose royalties would go to Sysop, Aircomm SEA also be stopped." Bay Area, California -- Brad Berson 415/689-2090 Analyst/Programmer Broadcast Operations Darin May Capital Cities/ABC-TV, Inc. Co-Author, GAP BBS System AIM On-Line Services Sysop, GAP Alpha Test Site Fullerton, CA George Maynard "My board will no longer offer Sysop, OBIE RBBS-PC any of their products." Cleveland-Area, Ohio -- Paul E. Castle II 216/684-2059 Mike McLaughlin Sysop, Land of the Lost RBBS Saratoga Springs, New York 518/584-0991 "A few years ago BBS operators got together and decided to Herb Mellinger change from the .LBR format Sysop, The Silicon Valley BBS to the .ARC format and Porth Richey, Florida literally put SEA on the 813/869-3700 map. Who would have ever registered SEA's ARC program Barry Miller had we not chosen it as the Sysop, Big Apple BBS 'standard'. In effect, we, Rockville Centre, New York the BBS operators have 516/536-1546 created a monster. I feel that it is up to us to [do] John Minton what we can, by not supporting Sysop, The PC Help Desk BBS SEA products on our boards." Huntsville, Alabama -- Joseph Sheppard 205/837-8453 John Morris Sysop, The Reno BBS Reno, Nevada 702/746-1364 702/746-1365 Shad Muegge Co-Author of DMG Bulletin Board System Sysop, Small Babble Board Santa Rosa, CA 707/527-5699 "I have just now sent out Gene A. Nelson the form letter and am Sysop, RBBS of Lafayette working up a batch system Lafayette, Indiana for sysops who wish to 318/234-5169 convert all .arc files to future compression Peter G. Olivola techniques." Sysop, The Chicago Computer Society Bulletin -- Shad Muegge Board System Oak Park, Illinois 312/942-0706 John Oren The Forum BBS Iowa 319/365-3163 Jim Oswell "These days it's obvious Sysop, The Grapevine RBBS-PC it isn't your talent, Charlotte-Area, North Carolina creativity, or any 704/364-3632 human attributes that make you a success, it's Michael Part simply how much legal Sysop, The Wicked Scherzo backing you can scrape up." Sherman Oaks, California -- John Passaniti 818/906-8683 John M. Passaniti Software Developer & Sysop, The Passport Public BBS Rochester, New York FidoNet Node 260/218 Tim Pearson Sysop, LANStar RBBS-PC Springfield, Missouri 417/673-2283 Gary Peterson "Users of my system have been warned about Sysop, ??? uploading SEA programs. If they are uploaded, (Unfortunately, part they will be removed!!! If they continue of Gary's message was to be uploaded, the user that is uploading lost to gremlins. them will be removed!!!"--Gary Peterson "Oh, Gary! What did you say the name of your board was?") Gene Plantz Sysop, Gene Plantz's RBBS-PC Chicago, Illinois 312/885-7144 312/882-4227 Michael Reaves Sysop, IDEAS/Innovative Designs in Electronic Alternatives Sysop, Computer Associates, Inc. internal company bbs San Diego, California Terry Rossi Sysop, RTC-BBS New Jersey 609/654-0999 Greg Ryan Author, RYBBS Bulletin Board Software & Rycomm Communications Software Sysop, Homebase Milwaukee, Wisconsin 414/962-1097 Steve Ryckman Sysop, Off the Wall - On the Line BBS (private) Co-sysop, Lakes Region BBS Chicago, Illinois 312/872-8086 Jerry Shenk "Dear Mr. Henderson: Co-Sysop, Lancaster Area BBS Lancaster, Pennsylvania I am the sysop of RBBS-PC of 717/394-1357 Chicago. My board, which was started in August of Don Smith 1983, has approximately Sysop, NorthWest Ohio RBBS 5,600 registered users from Toledo, Ohio every state in the union and 419/448-1421 fifteen foreign countries. We are presently adding Arnold Smokler between five and seven new Sysop, Micro-C BBS users every day, seven days Springfield, Virginia per week. The board has 703/321-8070 fielded over 120,000 calls to date, and currently Steve Souza handles in excess of 1,200 Columnist, T.C. Interface Magazine calls per week on its five Sysop, Interex BBS incoming lines. I am also San Jose, California a lawyer. And as a lawyer 408/773-8018 and a sysop I find your recent actions against Craig Stahl PKware despicable. A Sysop, FreeForm BBS classic case of 'if you St. Clair Shores, Michigan can't out program 'em, 313/772-9394 sue 'em' mentality. I watched as ARC (a term clearly a Mark Stein carry-over from CP/M days... Sysop, Greater Chicago Diving Board contrary to your delusions Arlington Heights, Illinois of originality) came on the 312/259-1146 scene. I also watched as it languished after its Phil Stults introduction with no signi- Sysop, The LANS Multi-Node BBS #1 ficant improvements in either Gary, Indiana features or speed. You can 219/884-9508 be grateful that PKARC came along, for without its speed Maurice Thaler ARC never would have survived. Sysop, Power Board BBS What you and your lawyers Sysop, Audio Projects BBS apparently overlooked in your Madison, Wisconsin zealous greed was the fact 608/221-8422 that it was BBS sysops such as myself that made ARC a Mike Trubow standard. By your recent Sysop, The Saloon BBS actions to destroy one of Arnold, Maryland the few standards that now 301/757-9075 exist in the BBS world, you have clearly bitten the hand Bill Tulles that feeds you. Either Sysop, AV-SYNC reconsider your 'settlement' Atlanta, Georgia with PKware, or I, like sysops 404/320-6202 of hundreds of other major boards, will do all we can Pat Vallier to assure ARC's early demise. Sysop, The Ballpark RBBS I will clear my system of Nashua, New Hampshire anything bearing your name 603/882-2099 and will recommend my users NOT support anything remotely Paul Waldinger related to yourself or your Sysop, Sound of Music BBS company. Finally, it is my Oceanside, New York intention to convert my 516/536-8723 entire system to whatever new library format PKware Bob Walker chooses to implement in the Sysop, The McHenry BBS future. The choice is McHenry, Illinois yours. Sincerely, 815/385-5031 Loren D. Jones" Mike Wesolowski Sysop, Milwaukee Heath Users Group BBS Waukesha, Wisconsin 414/548-9866 Bob Westcott Sysop, Stateline BBS New Hampshire "Please add my board and 603/424-5497 name to the list of users that support PKWARE." Patrick Wilke -- Mike Wesolowski Sysop, The Alaska Information Network Anchorage, Alaska 907-258-4756 Randall Young Sysop, ATT-PAC BBS The Bay Area, California 415/829-6062 Paul Zumwalt "I encourage my users to donate to good Sysop, Zee ZOO RBBS PD/shareware programmers....I may want to Chugiak, Alaska use the shareware philosophy myself someday, 907/688-0143 and don't want it polluted beyond recognition." -- Paul Zumwalt (who called long-distance all the way from Chugiak, Alaska to add his name to this list) Originally Posted September 5, 1988; Second Edition Posted September 25, 1988. [Note: Please do not alter or augment this file. If you are a sysop or software author and would like to add your name to this list of endorsers, please leave a message containing your name, phone number, name of your BBS and/or product, and the name of the city that your board resides in, to Judy Getts on one of the following boards: Exec-PC in Milwaukee at 414/964-5160; Loren Jones' RBBS-PC in Chicago at 312/352-1035; or the Sound of Music in Oceanside, New York at 516/536-8723. We thank you.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------