ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Supreme Court denied legal protection for a user-friendly component of a popular computer program Tuesday but left the information highway without resolving the broader question of how copyright law might guard software firms.
The 4-4 vote upheld a lower court ruling that deprived Lotus Development Corp. of copyright protection for the part of a computer program that tells how to use the system.
The case had been closely watched as the first high court hearing on how federal copyright law applies to computer software. But the justices did not explain their ruling, so it will have little effect beyond the Lotus case.
The Lotus 1-2-3 software system, introduced in 1983, provides tabular and graphic display formats. Users operate the program through its command menu.
Lotus, now an IBM subsidiary based in Cambridge, Mass., sued Borland International Inc. in 1990 over the command menus Borland used in its spreadsheet formats ``Quattro'' and ``Quattro Pro.''
A federal judge ruled that Borland, based in Scotts Valley, Calif., had infringed on the Lotus 1-2-3 menu. But the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling and threw out the case, saying federal copyright law protects certain aspects of computer programs, but the command menu does not qualify for protection because it amounts to a ``method of operation.''
Borland stock closed Tuesday at 151/4, up 11/8. IBM, which has acquired Lotus, closed at 87, up 37/8. In other cases, the court:
Ruled that people cannot be awarded damages for loss of companionship when relatives die in airline crashes over international waters. The case stemmed from the 1983 downing of a Korean airliner by the Soviet Union.
Allowed a lawsuit to go forward that accuses Ford Motor Co. of selling a defectively designed Escort - defective because it did not have an air bag before federal law required one.
Let the government continue fining television and radio broadcasters for airing indecent programs at certain times of the day.
Let stand a ruling that said the former Burroughs Wellcome Co. is entitled to five patents for AZT, the primary drug for treating AIDS. Burroughs was acquired by Glaxo last year.
Refused to let Nebraska deny Medicaid-funded abortions to women who become pregnant as the result of rape or incest.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB