Ashton-Tate may have come out as the biggest winner when it lost its suit against FoxPro and others. In the legal battle, Ashton-Tate lost rights to the dBase language, which was declared in the public domain because it was originally developed at JPL with government funds. Since then both Borland and Microsoft have decided to produce a DBMS system utilizing the dBase language.

Ashton-Tate, which has steadily lost market share since its release of dBase IV, may actually find renewed interest in the once-standard DBMS as it again becomes the focus of attention. Clones make the market grow.

ref: PC MAG Vol 10.7 Pg 83