TECHNOLOGY - Jan. 9, 1996
Times Staff and Wire Reports
High Court Hears Computer Commands Dispute: The Supreme Court heard arguments on whether commands that make computer programs work are creative expressions that can be protected by copyright laws. Lotus Development, a unit of International Business Machines Corp., argued that commands are expression and so Borland International Inc. violated Lotus’ copyright by using Lotus 1-2-3 commands in Borland’s former Quattro programs. But Borland argued that commands are not copyrightable expression because they only make a program operate on a computer. Lotus appealed to the Supreme Court to review the case after a U.S. appeals court ruled in March against the Cambridge, Mass.-based software firm.
