CompuServe Messages

Chowdy Nelson, 1) You are correct their was a lawsuit. The court found that the second game was identical in look and feel and therefore violated copyright since it was to all intents and purposes an exact "copy." 2) Ideas cannot be patented. Gizmos and processes can be patented. Not the ideas behind them. 3) Apple sued MicroSoft over the use of copyrighted material that was included in an unauthorized version of their windows software. It was a simple matter to prove that MicroSoft had access. Apple has reason to believe that the code was passed on to the other manufacturers involved in the suit. They aren't suing over look and feel, they are suing over use of copyrighted code. Another point to add. The Xerox suit against Apple for use of look and feel. The judge threw out 6 of 7 of the complaints and is waiting on the seventh, because if he decides in Apple's favor on it, because he may well end up putting the whole windows-style look and feel operating system into the public domain. Doing so could seriously jeapardize some of Apple's copyright claims. Nope, I'm not an expert in copyright law. I just follow this issue closely because I'm a writer. Chow, Cheryl P!