Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!shadooby!netnews.engin.umich.edu!news From: mystone@mondo.engin.umich.edu (Dean Yu) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Fwd: Xerox - Apple Computer Suit -2- Message-ID: <1989Dec18.050707.5329@caen.engin.umich.edu> Date: 18 Dec 89 05:07:07 GMT References: <1989Dec17.184851.7635@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu> <986@biar.UUCP> Sender: news@caen.engin.umich.edu (USENET News System) Reply-To: mystone@caen.engin.umich.edu Organization: Computer Aided Engineering Network, University of Michigan Lines: 34 In article <986@biar.UUCP> trebor@biar.UUCP (Robert J Woodhead) writes: >rob@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert K Shull) writes: >Whatever your feelings about this particular case, it seems to me that >Apple is only getting what they have been dishing out. Apple was mainly >responsible for the ``look and feel'' legal concept, and nobody denies >that a large part of the basics of the windowing interface in general, >and the Mac implementation in particular, were developed and tested at >Xerox PARC. > >If Apple wants to go around suing people for appropriating their ideas, >such as pull-down menus, window titles, and other Apple developed user >interface concepts, they should expect to get sued by people whose ideas >they appropriated (eg: Xerox). They can't have it both ways. If Apple >is wise, they would pony up $10 or $20 million to Xerox for a license >fee -- because it helps legitimize their position in re: look and feel. > >Why didn't they? It seems that the risk they may see is that if they >pay Xerox, Xerox will go around licensing everyone else for windowing >systems; and these people will wave the licenses in front of Apple when >Apple's lawyers come calling. > Actually, if you go digging far enough you'll find that Xerox owns (or at least, a used to own) a small part of Apple. This was in return for use of the Star technology on the Lisa and the Macintosh... I don't know why Xerox suddenly decided to sue Apple. They don't have any ground to stand on. _______________________________________________________________________________ Dean Yu | E-mail: mystone@caen.engin.umich.edu Self-declared License Czar | Real-mail: Dean Yu University of Michigan | 909 Church St Computer Aided Engineering Network | Apt C INCLUDE 'Disclaimers.a' | Ann Arbor, MI 48104 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------