🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <khopncINNhna@agate.berkeley.edu> adam@soda.berkeley.edu (Adam J Richter) writes:
> Apple's lawsuit against HP and Microsoft is a "copyright
> infringement action."  Microsoft has used an agreement that they
> had with Apple as one of their many defenses, and HP has used
> that agreement in conjunction with one of their own agreements with
> Microsoft as one of their defenses, but nobody is suing anybody for
> breach of contract (at least not in that court record).

I think you're confused. At one point Apple licensed something, which
I'll call UI, to Microsoft. This means that Apple and Microsoft entered
into an agreement: Microsoft agreed to pay Apple some amount of money,
and Apple agreed to let Microsoft use UI.

The only conceivable way that Apple could sue Microsoft for breach of
contract is if Microsoft didn't pay. There's no hint of that.

Nevertheless, Microsoft can use UI as defense against a copyright
infringement suit. There's no contradiction here. Microsoft claims that
UI covers some copying they did. Apple claims that UI doesn't cover the
copying. If the judge agrees with Microsoft, then Apple has no right to
control the copying, because they licensed UI to Microsoft.

So I think Paul's right, even if his attitude towards patents is a bit
naive.

---Dan