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In article <5003@cup.portal.com> Eric_Shockwave-Rider_Larson@cup.portal.com writes:
>the Macintosh. To imply that the "look and feel" lawsuit
>threatens innovation is folly, except perhaps if Apple is
>to lose. THEN we will have death of innovation, for who will
>dare produce something new???

Unfortunately, you did not think this through very far.
Suppose Apple does win the suit.  Then no one, except Apple, can ever write
a windowing system.  To do so would violate Apple's look and feel rights.
The result is to make innovation illegal.  This is much worse than the
alternative.

You may object that this is not Apple's goal, that Apple is only trying to
stop blatant copies of their work.   Nonetheless, it is a very dangerous
precedent to establish.  Apple's law firm (Brown and Bain) have participated
in many "look and feel" cases in the past, and has already established
some dangerous precedents.  

And what if Apple does lose?  Their rights to the Macintosh system are
protected by copyright law.  No one can legally copy it.  However,
someone else can try to build a better mouse trap, safe in the knowledge
that their right to innovate, and improve, are protected by law also,
even if the mouse trap "looks and feels" a little bit like the old one.

Disclaimer:  I own a MacII, and these opinions are mine.

Jim Wilson                  "If it is only a game, then why keep score?"
wilson@ji.Berkeley.EDU          Worf - Star Trek: The Next Generation
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