apple vs microsoft

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Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. Court United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Full case name Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Co. Citation(s) 35 F.3d 1435; 63 USLW 5!" 1!!4 Copr.L.#ec. $ %"3&1" 3 U.S.$.'.d 1&(6 Court membership Judge(s) sitting Ferdinand Francis Fernande)" $a*ela Ann +,*er " and -ho*as . Nelson Apple Computer, Inc. vs. Microsoft Corporation , 35 F.3d 1435 (9th Cir. 1994) was a copyriht infrinement laws!it in which "pple Comp!ter, #nc. (now "pple #nc.) so!ht to pre$ent %icrosoft and &ewlett' ackard from !sin $is!al raphical !ser interface ( *#) e that were similar to those in "pple+s isa and %acintosh operatin systems. -1 /he co!rt r!led that, 0"pple cannot et patent'like protection for the idea of a raphical !ser interface, or desktop metaphor -!nder copyriht law ...0. - #n the midst of the Apple v. Microsoft laws!it, 2ero also s!ed "pple allein that %ac+s *# was hea$ily ased on 2ero +s. -3 /he district co!rt dismissed 2ero +s claims witho!t addressin whether "pple+s *# infrined 2ero +s. -4 "pple lost all claims in the Microsoft s!it e cept for the r!lin that the trash can icon and folder icons from &ewl ackard+s ewWa$e windows application were infrinin. /he laws!it was filed in 1966 and fo!r years7 the decision was affirmed on appeal in 1994, - and "pple+s appeal to the *.8. 8!preme Co!rt was denied. Contents -hide

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Lawsuit & result between Apple & microsoft.

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Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaApple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.

CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Full case nameApple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Citation(s)35 F.3d 1435; 63 USLW 2259, 1994 Copr.L.Dec. P 27,301, 32 U.S.P.Q.2d 1086

Court membership

Judge(s) sittingFerdinand Francis Fernandez,Pamela Ann Rymer, andThomas G. Nelson

Apple Computer, Inc. vs. Microsoft Corporation, 35 F.3d 1435 (9th Cir.1994) was acopyright infringementlawsuit in which Apple Computer, Inc. (nowApple Inc.) sought to preventMicrosoftandHewlett-Packardfrom using visualgraphical user interface(GUI) elements that were similar to those in Apple'sLisaandMacintoshoperating systems.[1]The court ruled that, "Apple cannot get patent-like protection for the idea of a graphical user interface, or the idea of a desktop metaphor [under copyright law]...".[2]In the midst of theApple v. Microsoftlawsuit,Xeroxalso sued Apple alleging that Mac's GUI was heavily based on Xerox's.[3]The district court dismissed Xerox's claims without addressing whether Apple's GUI infringed Xerox's.[4]Apple lost all claims in theMicrosoftsuit except for the ruling that the trash can icon and folder icons from Hewlett-Packard'sNewWavewindows application were infringing. The lawsuit was filed in 1988 and lasted four years; the decision was affirmed on appeal in 1994,[2]and Apple's appeal to theU.S. Supreme Courtwas denied.Contents[hide] 1Background 2Court case 3Impact 4See also 5References 6External linksBackground[edit]Apple had agreed to license certain parts of its GUI to Microsoft for use inWindows 1.0, but when Microsoft made changes inWindows 2.0adding overlapping windows and other features found in the Macintosh GUI, Apple filed suit. Apple added additional claims to the suit when Microsoft releasedWindows 3.0.[5][6]Apple claimed the "look and feel" of the Macintosh operating system, taken as a whole, was protected bycopyright, and that each individual element of the interface (such as the existence of windows on the screen, the rectangular appearance of windows, windows could be resized, overlap, and have title bars) was not as important as all these elements taken together. After oral arguments, the court insisted on an analysis of specific GUI elements that Apple claimed were infringements. Apple listed 189 GUI elements; the court decided that 179 of these elements had been licensed to Microsoft in the Windows 1.0 agreement and most of the remaining 10 elements were not copyrightableeither they were unoriginal to Apple, or they werethe only possible way of expressing a particular idea.[7]Midway through the suit,Xeroxfiled a lawsuit against Apple claiming Apple had infringed copyrights Xerox held onitsGUIs. Xerox had invited theMacintoshdesign team to view their GUI computers at thePARCresearch lab; these visits had been very influential on the development of the Macintosh GUI. Xerox's lawsuit appeared to be a defensive move to ensure that ifApple v. Microsoftestablished that "look and feel" was copyrightable, then Xerox would be the primary beneficiary, rather than Apple. The Xerox casewas dismissed, for a variety of legal reasons.[8]Court case[edit]The district court ruled that it would require a standard of "virtual identity" between Windows and the Macintosh at trial in order for Apple to prove copyright infringement. Apple believed this to be too narrow of a standard and that a more broad "look and feel" was all that should be necessary at trial. As a result, both parties agreed that a jury trial was unnecessary given the rulings, and Apple filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in order to have the district court's characterization overruled.[9]After the district court ruled in favor of Microsoft, Apple appealed the decision arguing that the district court only considered infringements on the individual elements of Apple's GUI, rather than the interface as a whole. The appeals court almost entirely affirmed the ruling of the district court, establishing that, "almost all the similarities spring either from the license or from basic ideas and their obvious expression... illicit copying could occur only if the works as a whole are virtually identical."[2]However, the circuit court did reverse the district court's decision not to award attorney's fees to Microsoft, clarifying and sending the case back to the district court to resolve the issue.CitingBrown Bag Software v. Symantec Corp, the circuit court dissected the GUI in order to separate expression from ideas (as expression, but not ideas, are covered by copyright law).[2][10]The court outlined five ideas that it identified as basic to a GUI desktop: windows, icon images of office items, manipulations of icons, menus, and the opening and closing of objects.[2]The court established that Apple could not make copyright claims based on these ideas and could only make claims on the precise expression of them.The court also pointed out that many of Apple's claims fail on an originality basis. Apple admittedly licensed many of its representations from Xerox, and copyright protection only extends to original expression. Apple returned to its "complete look and feel" argument, stating that while the individual components were not original, the complete GUI was. The court rejected these arguments because the parts were not original.Impact[edit]Much of the court's ruling was based on the original licensing agreement between Apple and Microsoft for Windows 1.0, and this fact made the case more of a contractual matter than of copyright law, to the chagrin of Apple. This also meant that the court avoided a more far-reaching "look and feel copyright" precedent ruling. However, the case did establish that the analytic dissection (rather than the general "look and feel") of a user interface is vital to any copyright decision on such matters.In 1997, three years after the lawsuit was decided, all lingering infringement questions against Microsoft regarding the Lisa and Macintosh GUI as well as Apple's"QuickTime piracy" lawsuitagainst Microsoft were settled in direct negotiations. Apple agreed to make Internet Explorer their default browser, to the detriment ofNetscape. Microsoft agreed to continue developingMicrosoft Officeand other software for the Mac over the next five years. Microsoft also purchased $150 million of nonvoting Apple stock. Both parties entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement.[11][12]