Lotus Software Protected by Copyright, Judge Rules

A federal judge ruled Thursday that keyboard commands and on-screen images produced by Lotus Development Corp.’s popular 1-2-3 spreadsheet program are protected by copyright laws.

Paperback Software International, which lost the case along with subcontractor Stephenson Software Ltd., argued that the copyright applies only to the inner workings of the software.

In his 115-page decision, U.S. District Judge Robert Keeton wrote that “the user interface of 1-2-3 is its most unique element and is the aspect that has made 1-2-3 so popular. That defendants went to such trouble to copy that element is a testament to its substantiality.”

Michael Burdick, Paperback vice president of sales and marketing, said the company will appeal the decision to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

During the non-jury trial, which began in early February, Lotus product managers displayed three video screens to show the similarities in commands among Paperback Software’s VP-Planner and Mosaic’s Twin Classic program.

Because the attorney representing Mosaic fell ill during the trial, Keeton concentrated only on Paperback Software as the defendant. It was not immediately clear if the ruling would also apply to Mosaic.

Defense attorneys had argued that the Lotus commands represented “instructions for a machine rather than the expression of an idea.”