🚀 go-pugleaf

The July 16 issue of PC Week, page 34, contains an excellent column by
Peter Coffee on the Lotus copyright decision.  He is not a lawyer, but
actually took the time and effort to read the 3000 line decison.  I
quote without permission:

   "The court has not granted a monopoly on the look of the electronic
spreadsheet.  'There is a rather low limit,' ruled the court, 'on the
number of ways of making a computer screen resemble a spreadsheet . . .
[This] weights heavily against treating the rotated 'L' screen as a
copyrightable element . . .'"
   "The court has not granted a monopoly on the use of the '/' key to
invoke the main menu.  'Only a few keys . . . can be used, as a
practical matter.' the court observed . . ."
   "The court has not granted a monopoly on the moving bar menu, though
I note that these are often called '1-2-3-style' . . . 'the idea for
a two-line moving menu is . . . functional and obvious,' states the
decision."

It's an interesting article, and the first I've seen anywhere which
offered detailed description of the decision.  As is usual with the
law, there's more than gets printed even in the NY Times.

If I were to summarize Coffees opinion of the opinion (jeez -- my
opinion of Coffees opinion on the opinion), the court said "You can't
copyright a car, but you can copyright a Buick Riviera".