Apple Computer v. Microsoft (9th Cir. 1994) (Rymer).doc

Apple Computer v. Microsoft (9th Cir. 1994) (Rymer) APPLE COMPUTER, INC. v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION 35 F.3d 1435 (9th Cir. 1994) Before: FERNANDEZ, RYMER, and T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judges. RYMER, Circuit Judge: Lisa and Macintosh are Apple computers. Each has a graphical user interface (GUI) which Apple Computer, Inc. registered for copyright as an audiovisual work. Both GUIs were developed as a user-friendly way for ordinary mortals to communicate with the Apple computer; the Lisa Desktop and the Macintosh Finder1 are based on a desktop metaphor with windows, icons and pull-down menus which can be manipulated on the screen with a hand-held device called a mouse. When Microsoft Corporation released Windows 1.0, having a similar GUI, Apple complained. As a result, the two agreed to a license giving Microsoft the right to use and sublicense derivative works generated by Windows 1.0 in present and future products. Microsoft released Windows 2.03 and later, Windows 3.0; its licensee, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), introduced NewWave 1.0 and later, NewWave 3.0, which run in conjunction with Windows to make IBM- compatible computers easier to use. Apple believed that these versions exceed the license, make Windows more Mac-like, and infringe its copyright. This action followed. In a series of published rulings, the district court construed the agreement to license visual displays in the Windows 1.0 interface, not the interface itself; determined that all visual displays in Windows 2.03 and 3.0 were in Windows 1.0 except for the use of overlapping windows3 and some changes in the appearance and manipulation of icons; dissected the Macintosh, Windows and NewWave interfaces based on a list of similarities submitted by Apple to decide which are protectable; and applied the limiting doctrines of originality, functionality, standardization, scenes a faire and merger to find no copying of protectable elements in Windows 2.03 or 3.0, and to limit the scope of copyr