Hans Aberg writes:
 > So, if dvips and becomes commercially hot, then Adobe can ask for license
 > fees for both dvips and pdftex: In the case of dvips that is wholly
how can they demand fees? they published the language in a book, which did
NOT say "if you implement this language you must pay us". they have
no legal grounds for turning around and changing their minds. If they
could, so could Knuth for TeX!

in what way does the PDF specification differ from the TeX
specification? Adobe control one, Knuth the other. Knuth gave away the
source code of an implementation, Adobe only give away compiled
versions. thats about it, probably.

 > market: Then Adobe might want to do that. Whatever the rules are now, Adobe
 > might decide to change them.
they can make a PDF-NG and not release the spec. but there is no sign
they they want to commit commercial suicide.

 > I just point out how those things work
are you a copyright lawyer, then?

sebastian