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From: folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac,comp.misc,misc.legal
Subject: Re: Xerox sues Apple!!!
Message-ID: <21301@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 15 Dec 89 21:34:58 GMT
References: <4540@ur-cc.UUCP> <18158@netnews.upenn.edu> <4543@ur-cc.UUCP>
Sender: news@mimsy.umd.edu
Reply-To: folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta)
Distribution: usa
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
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"From what I remember of the article, Xerox has waited all of this time while
"various "ambiguities" in the relevent laws have been ironed out in court
"over the last several years.

The Wall Street Journal article makes it clear (to me, anyhow) that Xerox will
have a tougher time against Apple than Apple will have against Microsoft:

   For one thing, Xerox waited so many years to lay its claim to the technology
   that Apple may be able to argue that Xerox lost its right to make that
   claim.  [A software lawyer] said he also thinks that Xerox didn't publish
   its copyrights, which may mean it lost the right to enforce them.  [The
   lawyer sites an Intel case where Intel lost its copyrights even though it
   published them, because it did not include a statement in a about them in
   a few licenses.]
   ...
   [According to an intellectual-property lawyer], Xerox waited so long to sue
   that he doubts that it can win damages.  But he said that the court might
   agree to invalidate the Apple copyrights.
--


Wayne Folta          (folta@cs.umd.edu  128.8.128.8)