xTalk Legal Status (was: [ANN] www.krugle.com --- xtalk not a real language)

[Bill Marriott]

Honest question:

Can anyone say what the legal status of our favorite language is?

HyperTalk was released by Apple, then there were a bunch of "clones" -- are 
the keywords, structures, syntax, etc., protected by patent and/or 
copyright? Does Revolution pay a royalty to Apple? Can anyone make a 
compiler/interpreter that speaks HyperTalk and/or TranScript and/or 
Revolution?