Tales of Six Cases

Whelan vs. Jaslow Case

Court’s decision: Jaslow won the case. Although, only the structure of the program was considered to be infringed, Whelan was still found guilty of violating the copyright of the computer program of Jaslow. This case showed that copyright protection of a computer program does not only apply to the code but also to the structure, sequence and organization of the program as well.

If we are going to consider the Divine Law, Whelan’s action is somehow unethical because, in a way, it is a form of stealing when it copied the structure of Jaslow’s program. Whelan had also violated two commandments in computer ethics: “Thou shalt not use other people’s computer resources without authorization”, when it deliberately studied the computer program of Jaslow and “Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output”, when it copied the program structure of Jaslow.

Computer Associates vs. Altai Case

Court’s decision: Altai won the case. The court concluded that Altai did not infringe the computer program of Computer Associates. The program of Altai was originally written by a former programmer of Computer Associates and the programmer had copied 30% of the code of Computer Associates’ program. When Altai discovered this, they developed another version of the program with programmers not familiar with Computer Associates program.

The court’s ruling in this case contradicted the decision in Whelan vs. Jaslow Case. This confirms the theory of Ethical Relativism which states that what is morally right may differ from time to time and may also vary from one person to another. The court’s decision somehow favored the altruistic act of Altai when they decided to hire new programmers to compensate the problem that the former Computer Associates programmer had done to their computer program.

Apple vs. Microsoft Case

Court’s decision: Apple lost the case. The court’s verdict was in favor of Microsoft and HP that they did not violated the copyright on the look and feel of Apple Macintosh desktop.

It reminds us that a computer program may have similarities to other program. The decision is based the idea of ethical relativism that, although Apple believed that Microsoft and HP copied their GUI, the court still had not found proper evidences to prove the charges and had found the two accused not guilty of the charges.

Lotus vs. Paperback Software and Mozaic Software Cases

Court’s decision: Lotus won in both cases. The court got substantial evidences that the menu structure of Lotus 1-2-3 was infringed by Paperback and Mozaic.

The decision is similar to Jaslow vs. Whelan case that the structure of the program is also copyrightable. However, this percept is against the Computer Associates vs. Altai case. Again, the court’s decision may also vary from other court as thought by the theory of relativism.

Lotus vs. Borland Case

Courts’ decisions: This case is also about the infringement of Lotus 1-2-3. Lotus won at the District court while Borland won in the US First Circuit court. The US Supreme Court was split and no decision is still made up to this date.

Each court had different interpretations on the case. Thus, it only proved that even in the department of justice, there might be some differences on judgments on one particular case and that there is no absolute basis on what is right or wrong.

Reference:

Albacea, E. A., Payongayong, T. T, Pinpin, A. V. (2003). Computer Ethics. UPOU.