gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) (03/08/91)
The New York Times, March 7, page C20, has a story by Andrew Pollack
entitled "Judge Paves Way for Apple Copyright Trial". Basically,
judge Vaughn Walker has decided all the preliminary motions and the
case will go to trial, though a date has not been set.
He decided that Xerox's invention of windowed displays did not
automatically cause Apple's claimed copyrights to be invalid. He
decided that Apple's license to microsoft doesn't automatically mean
Microsoft is licensed to use the claimed copyrights. And he decided
that copyright infringement would not be decided based on "total
concept and feel", but on specific features.
Some of these issues will presumably be resolved or changed during the
trial itself. My understanding is that these decisions mean that the
case must go to trial rather than being decided or rejected before
trial.
--
John Gilmore {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@toad.com
Just say no to thugs. The ones who lock up innocent drug users come to mind.