Look and Feel Case of 1988

Strong monopolies

Seen as one of the strongest monopolies in the US, it is sometimes difficult to imagine the humble position from which Microsoft started. Starting from its operating system DOS, Microsoft grew in size developing software. It wasn’t until Bill Gates started integrating many things that were very similar to the graphical user interface of a Mac computer that Apple deployed its lawyers to try and set a precedent on owning the look and feel of a GUI. The case went on for quite a few years until a decision was reached.

Xerox

Everything started during the 1970s when the first GUI was created by Xerox. Before then everything was text based and somewhat clunky to the average user. Although, it was developed there, it was not used commercially. However, people from the company Apple were present to see features that a non text based interface couldn’t provide: intuitiveness. [1] With the sight of a GUI, Apple started developing their own computer which would include various elements that would revolutionize the way people used computers. With it being equipped with buttons and menus, the Lisa and Macintosh personal computer became popular. It was awhile before the IBM PCs could use a graphical interface. When Microsoft started to build a GUI of its own, Apple started to grumble about it because it used many features similar to its Lisa OS but both were able to settle it among themselves. Apple gave them a license to use “for the audiovisual displays in Windows 1.0” [3]. But when subsequent versions of Windows started to come out and started to look like a Macintosh, Apple filed a lawsuit against Microsoft on the grounds that Apple had rights over the ‘look and feel” of their interface.

The Stolen apple

Apple claimed that Windows had stolen its idea in its graphical interface. Of course Hewlett Packard was also dragged into the lawsuit because of their NewWave programs. It claimed that it had many similar elements like an icon to dispose of deleted files, rectangular sized windows and the ability of windows to overlap each other. However, in the end the courts ruled that many of features/elements were not protected under copyright law. The only thing that was accepted as unique to Apple was the trash icon and a few other things. Apple tried to bring the case back up again but it was denied and thus the case was ended.