Friday, August 22, 2008 The ‘windows’ copyright case By Clint Fabiosa & Andrew Ong I-protect
IN 1988, Apple Inc. filed a case against Microsoft seeking to prevent the latter from using the visual elements of its operating systems, like its windows, “trash can” icon, and file folder icons that were similar to those in the Mac operating systems.
Apple had previously agreed to license certain parts of its visual elements to Microsoft for use in Windows 1.0. When Microsoft made changes in Windows 2.0, such as overlapping windows and other Apple system-like features, Apple filed suit, and then added additional claims to the suit when Microsoft released Windows 3.0.
Apple claimed the “look and feel” of its operating system, taken as a whole, was protected by copyright. The court ruled in favor of Microsoft stating that these elements had been licensed to Microsoft in the Windows 1.0 agreement, and most of the other remaining elements were not copyrightable—either they were unoriginal to Apple, or they were the only possible way of expressing a particular idea. Apple lost all claims in the lawsuit, except that the court ruled that the “trash can” icon and file folder icons were infringing.
[Apple Computer Inc. versus Microsoft Corp., 35 F.3d 1435 (9th Cir. 1994)]
