🚀 go-pugleaf

COURT ISSUES FURTHER RULING ON
APPLE'S 1985 AGREEMENT WITH MICROSOFT
 
CUPERTINO, California-July 25, 1989--Apple Computer, Inc. said
today that the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, California,
has ruled that a 1985 agreement between Apple and Microsoft, Inc.
gives Microsoft a license to use individual visual display
elements from its original Windows product, version 1.0, in
version 2.03.  The court ruled, however, that two major visual
differences between Windows version 1.0 and version 2.03 -- the
visual displays associated with overlapping windows, and a change
in the appearance and manipulation of icons -- are
not licensed under that agreement.
     The court previously ruled in March, 1989 that Windows 2.03
in its entirety is not licensed.  Today's ruling confirms that,
and further establishes that important parts of 2.03 are
unlicensed.  The court said it would now proceed to determine
whether Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard Corporation's use of
unlicensed displays, in combination with the licensed Windows 1.0
visual displays, infringes Apple's audiovisual copyrights.  The ruling,
which addresses a license agreement between Apple and Microsoft,
has no effect on the validity of Apple's Macintosh copyrights.
     "When Microsoft moved from tiled to overlapping windows in
version 2.03, it made a fundamental change that significantly
altered the overall appearance of its Windows product," said
Edward B. Stead, vice president and general counsel.  "The result
is a product that appears more similar to the Macintosh and
one which we contend infringes Apple's copyrights.  Under the
court's ruling, that change is unlicensed."
     "With today's ruling on the contract issue behind us, we are
eager at last to move on to the essence of the case, which is the
issue of copyright infringement," said Stead.  "We do not believe
the ruling should have a significant effect on Apple's ability to
show that Windows 2.03 and Hewlett-Packard's NewWave infringe
Apple's copyrights."
     Apple brought suit against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard on
March 17, 1988 for infringement of Apple's copyrighted audiovisual
 works by two products:  Microsoft's Windows 2.03 and Hewlett-
Packard's NewWave.  The audiovisual appearance of Macintosh is
one of the elements that makes it unique and distinctive in the
marketplace, and in computer parlance, extremely "user friendly".
     In May 1988, Microsoft requested that the case be bifurcated,
or divided into two parts.  The first part was to determine the
scope of the 1985 license; the second part will address copyright
infringement.  The two companies had entered into the 1985
agreement to resolve a dispute that had arisen at that time
concerning possible copyright infringement of  Apple's
audiovisual works by Microsoft Windows version 1.0.
     Judge William W Schwarzer's decision today completes review
of the contract issue.  A subsequent phase of the case will address
the issue of copyright infringement.

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On a separate note...
In this week's ComputerWorld, a lawyer from HP is quoted as saying that this
is a major blow to Apple's case.  He was very optimistic.  However, I don't
see how this could be a good sign for HP or Microsoft.  We shall see.

-Michael

-- 
Michael Niehaus        UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!mithomas
Apple Student Rep      ARPA:  mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu
Ball State University  AppleLink: ST0374 (from UUCP: st0374@applelink.apple.com)