Company News; Xerox Sues Apple Computer Over Macintosh Copyright
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The Xerox Corporation filed suit here today against Apple Computer Inc., accusing it of unlawfully using Xerox copyrights in its Macintosh and Lisa computers. The Xerox Corporation filed suit here today against Apple Computer Inc., accusing it of unlawfully using Xerox copyrights in its Macintosh and Lisa computers. Xerox’s suit, which was filed in Federal District Court, charges Apple with copyright misrepresentation and seeks more than $150 million in royalties and damages. Xerox contends that the Lisa and Macintosh software stems from work originally done by Xerox scientists and that it was used by Apple without permission. Xerox’s own personal computers were not commercially successful, and for many years the company made no attempt to uphold the copyrights on its graphical interface software. Such software allows a user to select programs and instruct the computer by pointing at symbols on the screen rather than typing in commands. Apple copyrighted the distinctive ”look and feel” of the Macintosh graphical user interface and has been quick to sue companies it believes have infringed on it. Apple has suits pending against the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., and the Hewlett-Packard Company of Palo Alto, Calif., contending that their software products infringe on the Macintosh copyright. Ideas and Expressions Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., said it believed Xerox’s complaint was without merit. ”The Xerox complaint seems to confuse the distinction between ideas and expression; copyright protects expression, not ideas,” said Stacey Byrnes, an Apple spokeswoman. ”Apple intends to prove in court that the audio-visual expressions in the Lisa and Macintosh interfaces were wholly original to Apple and duly registered with the copyright office.” Xerox contends that Apple ”intentionally and purposefully concealed” the derivation of the Lisa and Macintosh software from Xerox software. It said that Apple’s copyrights on Lisa and Macintosh software were invalid and that the company had unjustly received benefits that rightfully belong to Xerox. ”Xerox is not a litigious company,” David T. Kearns, Xerox’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement, ”but we have no other recourse than to seek relief from the court for actions we believe to be unlawful and unfair and, if allowed to continue unchallenged, to be against the interest of Xerox, its shareholders and the computer industry.” More : query.nytimes.com |