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Canon of Important Software IP Cases?

Posted by Cliff on Friday January 2, 2004 @07:42AM from the law-and-computers dept.

A not-so anonymous Anonymous Coward asks: "I'm interested in knowing some of the most significant cases that have influenced the field of software intellectual property law. As someone who is interested in pursuing patent law as a career, I'm interested in reading some of the 'big' cases to get a better idea of what issues and situations motivate and drive patent lawyers."

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Re:Apple vs. Microsoft by Shenkerian · 2004-01-02 08:11 · Score: 4, Informative

Although you're correct about look-and-feel, Apple v. Microsoft was a purely contractual case. The issue at hand was whether Microsoft's license of Apple IP for Windows 1.0 carried over into Windows 2.0 without a new contract.
The precedent for "look-and-feel" is the landmark case Lotus v. Borland, where UI menu trees were found unprotected by copyright law.

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