[Am-info] Re: MS Depositions

[Mitch Stone]

--- From a message sent by Eric Bennett on 1/31/02 2:28 PM ---

>As for Paul's comment, ISTR that Microsoft won largely because of a license
>Apple had granted to Microsoft.  Apple claimed they overstepped the
>licensed but the court disagreed.  That would not set any legal precedent
>that would allow others to copy Microsoft, unless Microsoft had signed
>similar licenses.

I posted this response about 7 hours ago, but I guess nobody read it, so 
here it is again:

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This suit was whittled down by the judge to the point where it was either 
dismissed or dropped. Key to this case was a contract Apple signed giving 
Microsoft rights to use Mac interface elements in Windows 1.0, or at 
least so Apple had thought. Microsoft took the contract to mean they had 
rights to use Mac interface elements for any product they wished; the 
court essentially sided with Microsoft. According to what I've read, this 
contract was only three pages long -- three pages that changed the course 
of the PC industry, as it turned out.

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It is my understanding that this case never actually went to trial, so it 
would have no force of precedence at all. Further, Bill Gates say (at 
least) that the contract was not key to Microsoft's Windows project.

 Mitch Stone  
 mitch@accidentalexpert.com