jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle) (03/27/88)
Given that Apple is now suing HP and Microsoft for copying the Apple user interface, is it legal to write applications for OS/2's Presentation Manager? Will Apple be going after developers who use it? Will IBM or Microsoft defend users of their product? Has anyone looked into the legal issues on this? It could be very risky to bring a Presentation Manager based product to market until this is cleared up. John Nagle
ward@cfa.harvard.EDU (Steve Ward) (03/28/88)
In article <17374@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>, jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle) writes: > > Given that Apple is now suing HP and Microsoft for copying the > Apple user interface, is it legal to write applications for OS/2's > Presentation Manager? Will Apple be going after developers who use > it? Will IBM or Microsoft defend users of their product? Has anyone > looked into the legal issues on this? It could be very risky to bring > a Presentation Manager based product to market until this is cleared up. > > John Nagle Apple is requesting an immediate halt to all sales of the relevant HP and Microsoft products which is Microsoft windows 2.03, presumably any related OS/2 product(s) and the HP Wave windowing software. This request is being made through the courts via a request for an injunction pending a full trial. A hearing to rule on the request for an injunction will be held in the near future. One has to be a little careful with news about injunctions in that often a judge will grant an immediate injunction pending a short wait to the hearing to consider imposing the injuction until the full trial, or in the legal jargon, a hearing to consider making the injunction "permanent." Permanent means until the full trial. If the injunction to prevent sales is granted until the full trial (permanent) then it will be difficult if not impossible to promote and sell products that depend on these HP and Microsoft products until a final resolution is readed in an out of court settlement or via a full trial. Personally, I doubt if such an injunction will be granted. If the injunction is not granted then the market is open. Obviously, Apple can sue anybody at anytime, including developers. This is doubtful to happen if the grounds for the suit are the same, and in any case it would then be easy for HP and/or Microsoft to request a class action in the present lawsuit and/or via a countersuit, giving them a way to provide an umbrella legal defense to others being sued, should HP or Microsoft care to do this. Note that this would not indemnify anyone against possible losses if the case is lost. If the injunction is not granted then it is likely that Apple will ultimately lose the court case, if history is a good indicator. Of course, this should only be taken as my personal guess. Who knows what lurks in the mind of judges. The fact is that there is no real body of law or court cases which are directly applicable to this court case. Of course, it is the lawyers' job to convince the judge otherwise....
jimc@iscuva.ISCS.COM (Jim Cathey) (03/29/88)
In article <17374@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle) writes: > > Given that Apple is now suing HP and Microsoft for copying the >Apple user interface, is it legal to write applications for OS/2's >Presentation Manager? Will Apple be going after developers who use >it? Will IBM or Microsoft defend users of their product? Has anyone >looked into the legal issues on this? It could be very risky to bring >a Presentation Manager based product to market until this is cleared up. Bingo! I'd say Apple's suit is producing exactly the results they set out to produce. Generate fear and uncertainty in the people generating app's for competing machines, thus (presumably) increasing Apple's sales. Ain't a litigous society wonderful??? +----------------+ ! II CCCCCC ! Jim Cathey ! II SSSSCC ! ISC Systems Corp. ! II CC ! TAF-C8; Spokane, WA 99220 ! IISSSS CC ! UUCP: uunet!iscuva!jimc ! II CCCCCC ! (509) 927-5757 +----------------+ "With excitement like this, who is needing enemas?"
michael@orcisi.UUCP (Michael Herman) (03/31/88)
> Bingo! I'd say Apple's suit is producing exactly the results they set out > to produce. Generate fear and uncertainty in the people generating app's > for competing machines, thus (presumably) increasing Apple's sales. From a marketing perspective, Apple is doing just the opposite. To a large part of the market, they will be seen as publicly recognizing and endorsing MS Windows/Presentation Manager as a serious competitor to the Apple interface. p.s. This discussion is already going on in comp.sys.ibm.pc. It probably isn't very net-efficient to start one here in comp.graphcis.
dboyes@uoregon.UUCP (David Boyes) (04/02/88)
In article <17374@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle) writes: > Given that Apple is now suing HP and Microsoft for copying the >Apple user interface, is it legal to write applications for OS/2's >Presentation Manager? Will Apple be going after developers who use >it? Will IBM or Microsoft defend users of their product? Has anyone >looked into the legal issues on this? It could be very risky to bring >a Presentation Manager based product to market until this is cleared up. > John Nagle Windows isn't *that* close to the Apple environment. I think they're way off base in this one. I could see it as a really cheap marketing ploy -- after all, if no one writes applications for OS/2, OS/2 fails and they sell more of their machines. Personally, I hope Apple (and the rest of the look-and-feel lot) get royally stomped on this one. If they want to whine about look-and-feel, I think they owe the folks at Xerox a whole lot of money and an apology. Actually, I've always wondered why Xerox hasn't come down on the whole gang of people using their research without really giving them credit for all the work that they did. Anybody at Xerox know? -- David Boyes | ARPA: 556%OREGON1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Systems Division | BITNET: 556@OREGON1 UO Computing Center | UUCP: dboyes@uoregon.UUCP 'How long d'ya think it'll be before just us oldtimers remember WISCVM?'