Lotus Sues 2 On Copyright Violation
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Acting swiftly to capitalize on last week’s Federal court ruling giving copyright protection to the set of computer commands used in its popular 1-2-3 spreadsheet program, the Lotus Development Corporation sued two California software companies yesterday, accusing them of copyright infringement. Acting swiftly to capitalize on last week’s Federal court ruling giving copyright protection to the set of computer commands used in its popular 1-2-3 spreadsheet program, the Lotus Development Corporation sued two California software companies yesterday, accusing them of copyright infringement. In his ruling last week, Judge Robert E. Keeton of Federal District Court in Boston wrote that Paperback Software International had infringed the distinctive command structure of the Lotus spreadsheet. Lotus officials said that they had waited for that court ruling before pursuing publishers that offered products with commands similar to those of Lotus 1-2-3. The suits today named Borland International and the Santa Cruz Operation as defendants. The 1-2-3 spreadsheet, which makes possible both simple budget tasks and complex ”what-if” business models, has become the software industry’s best-selling program since it was introduced in 1983. ”The heart of our suit is that they are not allowed to copy the 1-2-3 menus,” said Thomas M. Lemberg, Lotus’s general counsel. ”It is not a defense to say, ‘Gosh, I have a different appearance.’ ” Borland executives argued that the Lotus suit was without merit because Borland’s spreadsheet, Quattro Pro, does not mimic the Lotus command set; rather, it has its own distinctive menu system. However it is possible to configure the Quattro program so that it appears with ”1-2-3-compatible menu tree commands.” The user must install special files for this option, which is detailed in the Quattro program guide. Lotus stock slipped 12.5 cents in Nasdaq trading yesterday, to $34.625 a share, while Borland’s stock tumbled $4.375, to $17, as Nasdaq’s loss leader. Santa Cruz is privately held. More : query.nytimes.com |