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Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!iuvax!purdue!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!phoenix
From: phoenix@ms.uky.edu (R'ykandar Korra'ti)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.tandy
Subject: Re: uSoft/Apple and user interfaces
Message-ID: <12416@s.ms.uky.edu>
Date: 15 Aug 89 14:38:48 GMT
References: <18852@gryphon.COM>
Reply-To: phoenix@ms.uky.edu (R'ykandar Korra'ti)
Organization: El'n'tk National Spaceport, Mission Control
Lines: 43

In article <18852@gryphon.COM> gmadison@pnet02.gryphon.com (George Madison) writes:
>nop@cup.portal.com (Randy G Jouett) writes:
>>Actually, I think that Apple will sue the crap out of Commodore if it
>>steals any more of the market away from them...
>If Apple tries it, it will probably be laughed out of court.  The court will
>ask, "Why didn't you file this suit THREE YEARS AGO??" and probably not much
>more will happen.  There was a case recently where Intel lost some rights to
>NEC because they didn't file a suit for an extended period of time after
>discovering the "problem".  If you don't protect your rights, you lose them. 
     Absolutely. There have been other cases as well like this. I asked a
law student I know about this and she agreed that Apple has pretty much lost
its ability to sue Amiga successfully.
>Personally, I think that Apple suing people left and right over GUI's is
>insane, and I hope they lose every case, and get punitive damages slapped on
>them besides.  ALL this work is based on the Xerox Star, to one degree or
>another.  It is true that Apple put a lot of work into the Mac, but that
>doesn't mean that someone else can't come up with a workable, efficient GUI
>without ripping them off.  It seems like Apple wants to own the ENTIRE CONCEPT
>of a GUI, not just the Mac System/Finder/&c.
     I also hope that Apple gets plastered. The ramifications of the "look and
feel" lawsuits are astoundingly monopolistic. Let's say that Ford decided to
go after the "look and feel" of an automobile dashboard, or pedal arrangement.
That'd be a lot of fun today, no? I also understand that Microsoft is
copywriting subroutine names - can anybody confirm or deny this? I'd find this
to be most annoying, since you can't copywrite the literary analog - a
chapter or book title. (Yes, you too can be the writer of _Gone with the
Wind_. :-) )
     Interestingly enough, I talked to a person with Apple about this sort
of thing and he indicated that to be best of his knowledge, Apple has no
intention of suing Amiga regardless of how big Amiga gets, for a couple of
reasons. First, the four year lag (1985-1989) in taking action virtually
eliminates anything they'd be able to do. Secondly, the Amiga user interface
is so different than the Macintosh's that there's not much in the way of
grounds for a lawsuit. His way of putting it was, paraphrased; 'Apple
likes having other graphic interfaces around because it helps validate
the concept. However, we don't want them to look like ours. The Amiga's
doesn't.'
     Take that as you will, of course.
                                                    - R'ykandar.
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