Is exporting to a particular file type a breach of copyright?

Question

Hi

I'm working on a program which will eventually export to particular file types which could be used in other programs that can read them. I was wondering if would I need to get permission from the other program owners and whether it'll be breaching copyright if I didn't?

I'm guessing and hoping that it isn't as all I'm doing really is creating a file for their program not creating a program to open their files etc.

I tried googling for a quick answer before posting but had no luck.

Thanks in advance.

That is a shame because SPSS (http://www.spss.com) is the company that owns the file formats I'd like to export too and I don't suppose they'll give me permission.

I'll have to look around for any information on their site that might prove useful or beg.

Thanks for your answers, at least I won't proceed without permission now. It's not going to be too much of a problem if I can't, but it would be a nice feature.

Answer 1

If the companies have not published the specifications for their file formats explicitly for free use, they have the option of taking legal action based on your reverse-engineering the format for your own gain. Formats like Microsoft's Doc format are now becoming open. PDF is an open format as well. JPG and MPEG are free, but MP3 is not.

Also, the answerer below who states that it is not copyright is incorrect. Under US copyright law, all expressions of original information and/or ideas are copyrighted and the exclusive property of their creator from the moment of inception, with or without an official copyright "registration notice". So, unless they specifically waive those copyrights under an additional agreement like GPL or BSD (or the myriad of other use licenses), the file format is not open for modification or reuse without permission.

Answer 2

Absolutely not, the formats are universal ways of savings and psss trough different stages before been aproved afterwards it is supposed that is for use and abuse and even is a big batle for dominate the standards, it doesn´t have anything at all with formats of saving, the copyright is the content that was created.

It is suposed that you are paying for using the formats when you had already payed for the program you are using.

Answer 3

Well, it wouldn't be copyright. Some formats are under patent, which may demand that you pay the patent holder for the right to use their format. GIF used to be this way until the patent expired a few years ago. I dunno about other formats. You would probably want to research each format before you released software that implemented it. And of course lots of common formats today are free, like JPEG, MPEG, and Ogg.