Federal judge Vaughn Walker, presiding over Apple Computer Inc’s suit against Microsoft Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co alleging infringement of its copyright in the look and feel of the Windows user interface, has dismissed claims that Apple’s user interface is not original, and that it committed fraud on the US Copyright Office by failing to disclose prior art. The rulings are not conclusive in asserting the validity of Apple’s copyright, but he says remaining issues will be settled in court. He also denied that the licence granted by Apple to Microsoft in 1985 gave the latter the right to use overlapping windows or some characteristic icon movements. In Hewlett-Packard’s favour, he ruled that the latter was entitled to use some Apple displays licensed to it by Microsoft. In Microsoft’s favour, the judge ruled that any copying must be proved feature by feature, and not, as Apple wanted, by considering the user interface as a whole. Microsoft claims that it can still win the suit before it comes to trial.
