Lawyer Monthly - November 2021 Edition

1 9 8 8 Apple vs. Microsoft Copyright is most commonly associated with the protection of books, songs, films and other forms of entertainment, but this is far from the full range of works it may cover. The audiovisual elements of a computer’s graphical user interface (GUI), now an integral element to modern computing, are also subject to copyright. A dispute over the ownership of one of the first invented GUIs would form the core of one of the most formative copyright infringement lawsuits in the tech sector. Microsoft, led by Bill Gates, was the first outside developer to receive a prototype of Apple’s Macintosh system ahead of its release in 1984 for the purposes of creating productivity software for the system. After its public unveiling, Gates petitioned Apple to license the Macintosh software to outside developers to create a new standard in personal computing. This proposal was rejected by Jean- Louis Gassée, who had become head of the Macintosh project after the ousting of Steve Jobs. In 1985, Microsoft released its Windows 1.0 operating system, which shared many similarities with the Macintosh. Though Apple initially threatened to sue, the companies were able to come to an agreement wherein Apple licensed Macintosh design elements to Microsoft for use in Windows. In December 1987, when Windows 2.0 was released – containing even more design elements derived from the Macintosh GUI – Apple forwent threats of legal action and immediately filed suit against Microsoft for copyright infringement. As the dispute played out, however, the wording of the 1985 license agreement regarding the Macintosh’s visual display elements worked against Apple’s case. The agreement was discovered to stipulate that “to use these derivative works in present and future software programs.” This specification of “future” programs – taken to include Windows 2.0 – eventually led to Apple being handed a loss in 1989 when Judge William Schwarzer found that 179 of the 189 visual display elements at issue in Apple’s copyright infringement suit were covered by the license agreement. The remaining 10, Schwarzer said, were not eligible for copyright protection due to the merger doctrine, which holds that ideas are not copyrightable. Apple’s attempts to appeal the decision were ended by the Supreme Court in 1995. The loss was devastating for Apple and a landmark for the computing industry. Though the return of Steve Jobs helped to stabilise the company and eventually grow it into a giant, Apple and Macintosh’s survival remained on a knife edge throughout the mid-to-late 1990s, during which the victorious Microsoft and its Windows operating system became dominant in personal computing. The tech scene would likely not exist the way it does today without the influence of this copyright dispute. 1 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM 21 Microsoft founder Bill Gates Credit: DFID - UK Department for International Development (creativecommons.org/licenses /by/2.0/deed.en)