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Guy Harris (talk | contribs) Go directly to the page for the Macintosh operating system of the day. |
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However, the courts have tried to maintain common standards and tests for both types of SSO.{{sfn|Epstein|2006|p=11-17}}
Following the 1986 ''Broderbund'' ruling, [[Lotus Development Corporation]] sued two competing spreadsheet program vendors for copying the look and feel of their [[Lotus 1-2-3]] spreadsheet program, and [[Apple Computers]] sued [[Microsoft]] and [[Hewlett-Packard]] for copying the [[Classic Mac OS|Macintosh operating system]]'s use of icons, pull-down menus and a mouse pointing device. Both companies drew criticism, since key elements of their look and feel had been introduced earlier by [[VisiCalc]] and [[Xerox]].
A 1992 federal court finding against Apple largely rejected the idea that copyright law could protect look and feel.
The Lotus case went to the Supreme Court, which could not reach a decision, thus by default confirming the lower court's 1995 declaration that the words and commands used to manipulate the spreadsheet were a "method of operation", which is not subject to copyright.{{sfn|Overbeck|Belmas|2011|p=270-271}}
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