C Wayne Ratliff

Ashton-Tate said Wednesday it had settled trade secrets litigation it initiated last year after its former chief scientist, C. Wayne Ratliff, teamed up with tiny Migent Corp. to compete against Ashton-Tate's crucial dBASE line of software. As part of the settlement of "all litigation and claims," Migent dropped an antitrust suit it had filed in response against Ashton-Tate.

C. Wayne Ratliff 13 years ago simply wanted to write a personal computer software program that would help him win the office football pool. Instead, the then-young computer programmer came up with one of the best-selling software programs of all time--but now also the center of a brewing industry controversy.

C. Wayne Ratliff 13 years ago simply wanted to write a personal computer software program that would help him win the office football pool. Instead, the then-young computer programmer came up with one of the best-selling software programs of all time--but now also the center of a brewing industry controversy.

Ashton-Tate said Wednesday it had settled trade secrets litigation it initiated last year after its former chief scientist, C. Wayne Ratliff, teamed up with tiny Migent Corp. to compete against Ashton-Tate's crucial dBASE line of software. As part of the settlement of "all litigation and claims," Migent dropped an antitrust suit it had filed in response against Ashton-Tate.

In retrospect, the confrontation was inevitable. On one side is C. Wayne Ratliff, a rumpled, 40-year-old computer software wizard who wrote the pioneering electronic filing program called dBASE, which propelled Ashton-Tate into the ranks of the Big Three makers of personal computer software, with Lotus Development and Microsoft. On the other side is Edward M.

A federal judge shocked the software industry Thursday, ruling that Ashton-Tate Corp.'s copyrights on its top-selling dBase line of personal computer programs are invalid because the company repeatedly failed to disclose the product's intellectual origins. If the ruling is not overturned, it could cause chaos to Ashton-Tate's business by giving competitors full rights to copy the firm's primary product.

In retrospect, the confrontation was inevitable. On one side is C. Wayne Ratliff, a rumpled, 40-year-old computer software wizard who wrote the pioneering electronic filing program called dBASE, which propelled Ashton-Tate into the ranks of the Big Three makers of personal computer software, with Lotus Development and Microsoft. On the other side is Edward M.