Apple Computer Inc still believes that it has a case against Microsoft Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co over the Macintosh user interface, and is taking its complaint all the way to the United States Supreme Court. According to the Wall Street Journal, it argues that lower-court rulings could sharply limit the protection available on computer software. Most observers do not believe it will be able to persuade the justices to review the case. In its petition to the Supreme Court it argues that lower court rulings concluded that only virtually identical copying was illegal, where other courts have ruled against competing programs that were only substantially similar to the original. It also contends that the lower courts erred by dissecting the Macintosh displays to consider individual symbols or other elements, and should have considered the overall resemblance of the Macintosh to the rival programs. Hewlett-Packard Co, responding, said Apple resorted to gross mischaracterisations of the lower-court rulings to argue that they departed from other copyright precedents. The weakness in Apple’s case lies in the fact that it did license Microsoft to use an early version of the Macintosh user interface in Windows, and Hewlett argues that the courts correctly narrowed the case to a small number of features not covered by the licence.
