Whatever happened to WebFocus¬. Copyright 1996 BoxTop Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
BoxTop Software, Inc.
One Research Boulevard
Suite 201
Starkville, MS 39759
voice 601/323-6436
fax 601/324-7352
http://www.boxtopsoft.com
ftp://ftp.boxtopsoft.com/pub/
info@boxtopsoft.com
This is not a pretty tale...
Previously software known as HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ was available as part of the HVS¬ WebFocus¬ package from BoxTop Software, Inc. This software, as well as the HVS¬ WebFocus¬ package is no longer available from BoxTop Software, Inc. and will not be available again from BoxTop Software, Inc.. PhotoGIF¬ 2.x is the successor to HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬, and for all practical purposes identical and in some aspects superior to HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ as we've had a bit more time to improve upon it.
HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ was developed by us using a technology component originating from PRISM Interactive and provided to us by Digital Frontiers, LLC., two companies which just happen to have the same chairman, and Digital Frontiers, LLC. was to be the publisher of HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ as a part of the HVS¬ WebFocus¬ package.
On 8/2/96 Digital Frontiers, LLC. took hostile action against us and thereafter made demands that we relinquish all rights to the HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ and HVS¬ ProJPEG¬ software, which comprised the HVS¬ WebFocus¬ package, so they could make a lot of money with it and take all the credit for it while we got squat for designing and developing it. This was very coincidentally timed with the completion of the software, and can only lead us to speculate that their intentions were never quite honorable.
We immediately terminated all relations with them in response and neither party now holds legal right to continue to distribute the HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ software the HVS¬ ProJPEG¬ software, which comprised the HVS¬ WebFocus¬ package.
PhotoGIF¬ 2.x is gloriously free from any claims by PRISM Interactive and Digital Frontiers, LLC., two companies which just happen to have the same chairman - did I say that already?, and is the update to PhotoGIF¬ 1.1.4. Though it has the equivalent functionality and capability as HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬, it is not the same product as HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ or HVS¬ WebFocus¬ and should not be thought of as such. There are some differences between PhotoGIF¬ 2.x and HVS PhotoGIF¬, which was part of the HVS WebFocus¬ package, but the most significant of those is that one can be legally sold while the other can not. There are a few improvements in PhotoGIF¬ 2.x but I just want to emphasize that other point a lot.
As of 8/15/96 Digital Frontiers, LLC. in violation of copyright and trademark laws decided to publish versions of HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ and HVS¬ ProJPEG¬ 'completed to their quality' standards as they have publicly stated.
'Their quality standards' involved hacking resources and some assembly code to remove our name from the product as much as possible and in the case of HVS¬ PhotoGIF¬ to obscure the dialog in the binary they received from us that read "Demo copy. Not for resale", a booby trap we built in quite intentionally to the copy we provided them as we didn't trust them with very good reason it turns out, which now reads "Initializing...". Plug-ins don't really have to be initialized. It would just go berserk and beep like crazy if the dialog didn't display, so they changed what the dialog said.
In the process of 'completing to their quality standards' they broke quite a bit of the original functionality including preferences and multi-image support and defamed the graceful style of the original interface by plastering that ugly (mind you that 'ugly' is in my own personal and private opinion as their are undoubtedly lawyers reading this) ball they call a logo on the dialog where the multiple image options and append to existing file check boxes were before. Like they said 'their quality standards'.
I am also left wondering just how they plan to maintain and support a product that they don't have source code for, but then again the words 'take the money and run' do come to mind.
Digital Frontiers, LLC. has been asked really nicely to stop by our lawyer, but to date has made no effort to comply. This puts us in the very awkward and infuriating position of watching another lesser known but more well financed company take our products and our name and use them to make very possibly lots money and gain a foothold in our market. All off of our hard work.
So, our options are to sue them, a very lengthy and very costly process, or to stand by idly and take it while our registered copyrights are stomped around in the mud. Well, neither one of those options sets very well with us. That's the way it is, though.
I think that many of you reading this, being artists, designers and creative professionals of all types, will find this whole issue of intellectual property rights infringement striking very close to home. Intellectual property rights are the life blood of creative professionals from graphic designers to writers to programmers and those rights need to be protected from those who would infringe upon them for their own gain.
The court system exists as recourse for infringements of intellectual property rights but many times in reality litigation is a financial impossibility, a fact which those who infringe often gloat safely behind, so in truth their is often no recourse in the end.
Today it's our copyrights and our trademarks. Tomorrow it could be yours. Take a stand to stop infringement. Tell the world how you feel about it.
Thanks for listening.
Travis Anton, CEO
BoxTop Software, Inc.
travis@boxtopsoft.com
PhotoGIF¬ 2.1 is Copyright 1996 BoxTop Software, Inc. All rights reserved. PhotoGIF¬ is a Trade Mark of BoxTop Software, Inc. HVS¬ and WebFocus¬ are Trade Marks of Digital Frontiers, LLC.
