[Freegis-list] Can I use ArcXML format in my own application?

[Bernhard Reiter]

Hi Mateusz,

Am 14. Oct 2005 um 10:53:07 schrieb Mateusz ??oskot:
> I'm working on GIS software for PDA.
> I want to add open/save project feature and I'd like to use ArcXML format
> (ArcPad project format is based on ArcXML too).
> As I see, ArcXML reference includes only copyright 
> information about the document itself, so that's not exactly what I need.
> 
> My question is:
> 
> Am I allowed to use ArcXML as a project format for my own application?

I believe so, 
given that you do not reuse significant parts 
from their specification documents
and
that they do not have enforable patents on the techniques you need.
It helps if you use the format for interoperability reasons, too.

> Users of my application will be able to do following operations:
> - open/save project created by my application
> - create and save project in my application and open it in ArcPad
> - create and save project in ArcPad and open it in my application
> 
> Could anyone give me a piece of advice 
> regarding to the copyright and terms of use of ArcXML?

Sound legal advise you base a business on should come from a lawyer.
Note that you could ask ESRI of course, too.

There is a lot of Free Software that implements copyrighted specifications,
so this is more a general question.

	Bernhard

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