JUSTICES DEADLOCKED 4-4 OVER LOTUS SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT CASE.Byline: Linda Greenhouse Linda Greenhouse (born 1947-01-09 in New York City) is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for The New York Times, covering the United States Supreme Court. Education The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times A closely watched Supreme Court case that was expected to define the boundaries of copyright protection for computer software fizzled Tuesday as the eight justices who heard the case last week deadlocked at 4-4. As a result, the court automatically affirmed a 1995 decision by the federal appeals court in Boston that Lotus Development Corp. was not entitled to copyright protection for the system of menus and commands used in its pioneering Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program. The court issued no opinion and set no precedent for future cases, leaving behind dashed expectations and a state of heightened uncertainty. As a legal matter, the effect was as if the court had simply never agreed in September to hear Lotus' appeal of the ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The one difference is that the court has now broadcast how deeply split it is. Lawyers knowledgeable about the software industry said Tuesday that the court would almost certainly need to address the issue in a subsequent case, although with technology having moved on, the copyright dispute will probably have a different focus than the "user interface" at issue in the 6-year-old litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. between Lotus and Borland International Inc. The missing justice was John Paul Stevens John Paul Stevens (born April 20, 1920) is currently the most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He joined the Court in 1975 and is the oldest and longest serving incumbent member of the Court. , who earlier had taken himself out of the case for reasons he did not explain. Lotus sued Borland for copyright infringement Noun 1. copyright infringement - a violation of the rights secured by a copyright infringement of copyright plagiarisation, plagiarization, piracy, plagiarism - the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own in 1990, seeking $100 million in damages because the Quattro Pro A Windows spreadsheet from Corel that provides advanced graphics and presentation capabilities, including goal seeking, 3D graphing and the ability to create multi-layered slide shows. It is optionally keystroke compatible with Lotus 1-2-3. program copied the system of menus and commands used in Lotus 1-2-3, thus letting users benefit from their hard-won expertise with operating the Lotus program. But to the appeals court, the command structure was not a form of expression but a "method of operation," which is explicitly excluded from copyright protection under the law. |
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