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From: coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu (John Coolidge)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Apple/Microsoft Lawsuit
Keywords: Apple Microsoft Windows GUI Look-and-Feel Lawsuit
Message-ID: <1990Dec9.185536.5273@julius.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 9 Dec 90 18:55:36 GMT
References: <763@npdiss1.StPaul.NCR.COM> <1990Dec9.073046.23818@world.std.com>
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Organization: U of Illinois, Dept. of Computer Science, Systems Research Group
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boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin) writes:
>Maybe you feel
>that all GUIs violate Apple's divine right to the graphical interface.  If so,
>please remember that it was originally created by Xerox, at the time part-owner
>of Apple. Apple never paid a cent for it.  A belated Xerox suit against Apple,
>claiming a divine right to the graphical interface, was laughed out of court
>earlier this year.

This is not true. Apple was never partially owned by Xerox. Apple did
acquire a good deal of their graphical interface from Xerox, while
inventing other parts in-house. So far, Apple's lawsuits have centered
around only the work they did independent of Xerox.

Apple paid Xerox a percentage of the revenue on every Macintosh sold
between 1984 and 1989 as payment for their use of Xerox's research. 
I'm not sure what the percentage was; I believe it was a few percent
of net profit.

--John

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
John L. Coolidge     Internet:coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu   UUCP:uiucdcs!coolidge
Of course I don't speak for the U of I (or anyone else except myself)
Copyright 1990 John L. Coolidge. Copying allowed if (and only if) attributed.
You may redistribute this article if and only if your recipients may as well.