Date   : Tue, 04 Oct 1988 21:34:00 MDT
From   : Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Copyrighting programs based on PD may be ruled invalid

In a recent response to Apple's "Look and Feel" lawsuit, HP maintained
that the Mac's graphical interface is based on work done by other
companies - in particular, Xerox Corp.  HP's filing further alledged
that Apple obtained copyright registrations on the screen display
fraudulently by not disclosing to the U.S. Copyright Office that the
Mac's display was derived from Xerox's work. 

> "In copyrights and patents, if there is prior art, it has to be reported
> at submission", said Bob Frankenberg, group general manager for the
> information systems group at HP.  "Prior art, whether protected or in
> the public domain, can make your patent or copyright invalid."

This is an interesting turn of events.  If this is upheld by the court
it could invalidate the copyrights of all shareware and commercial
programs which contain a substantial amount of public domain code.

I wonder how that would affect the SEA vs. PKWare suit?

Would it make ZOO's copyright invalid?

How about all the copyrighted file transfer programs out there which
use the Ward Christensen protocol (popularly called XMODEM) and all
those YMODEM and ZMODEM programs based on Chuck Forsberg's PD code?

LONG LIVE PUBLIC DOMAIN!

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