Legally distributing BlackBox VNC from Protocol

[Eric Smith]

Hello all,

Does anyone have a firm, legal, response from AT&T or RealVNC for the following:

Is software developed from the RFB specification (100% black-box engineering of code from the spec) restricted by the GPL under which the VNC software is distributed?

Can we legally develop black-box software based on the RFB specification without purchasing or licensing the protocol from AT&T or RealVNC?

Eric M. Smith