I want to read a *.indd file, where can I find information about its format?

[jacek]

But the question is if one can sell a commersial product that can import protected file formats. It should be kind of obvious that the maker of the program have used illegall methods to make the import functionality possible.

Polish law allows you to reverse engineer an application to achieve compatibility with other programs, as long as you don't use it to develop an application with the same functionality. So it is perfectly legal to create *.something to *.indd converter (or vice versa), but you can't develop your own typesetting application that reads *.indd files.

I'm sure that there is some way you could buy^H^H^H get specification or library that will enable you to use .indd files in your application. Maybe you can develop a plugin for InDesign instead?

[pir]

Polish law allows you to reverse engineer an application to achieve compatibility with other programs, as long as you don't use it to develop an application with the same functionality. So it is perfectly legal to create *.something to *.indd converter (or vice versa), but you can't develop your own typesetting application that reads *.indd files.

I have to check if this is also the case in Sweden. I hope Swedish lawmakers are as smart as the Polish.
There should be somekind of international website where you can look what laws exists in different country in this area. Would be nice to be able to see what one is allowed to do, instead being scared of trip on some copyright law that doesn't exist.

thanks
pir

[jacek]

lawmakers are as smart as the Polish.

To be honest it's one of the rare cases when they did something smart (apart from opposing software patents and preparing new anti-spam regulations), but I guess it's just because politicians leave such uninteresing problems to experts instead of dealing with them themselves.

There should be somekind of international website where you can look what laws exists in different country in this area.

IMO it would be very hard to keep it up to date, but maybe EU has one.