Question

On June 28, 1990, an important decision was rendered with regard to a lawsuit between Lotus Development Corporation, the creator of the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, and Paperback International, the creator of the VP-Planner spreadsheet. Lotus had sued Paperback International for infringement of its copyright on Lotus 1-2-3. Paperback had copied the entire menu structure of the Lotus 1-2-3 program. The manual of the VP-Planner even contained the following statement: ‘’VP-Planner is designed to work like Lotus, 1-2-3, keystroke for keystroke . . .. VP Planner’s worksheet is a feature-for-feature work alike for the 1-2-3. It does micros. It has the same command tree. It allows the same kind of calculations, the same kind of numerical information. Everything 1-2-3 does, VP-Planner does.’’ Paperback, in turn, alleged that only the part of a computer program written in some computer language, such as C, is copyrightable. It argued that the more graphic parts of a program, such as the overall organization of the program, the structure of the program’s command system, the menu, and the general presentation of information on the screen, are not copyrightable. Lotus countered by arguing that copyright protection extends to all elements of a computer program that embody original expression.
Question: Could Lotus 1-2-3 be protected by a copyright and patent? Why or why not? (10 points)

Answer 1

Yes, Lotus 1-2-3 can be protected by a copyright and patent because

• As per section 2(ffc) of the copyright Act 1957 which defines computer programme as a set of instructions expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any other form including a machine readable medium,capable of causing a computer to perform a particular task or achieve a particular result.
• As per section 2(o) of the copyright Act 1957 which defines lierary works includes computer programmes,tables and compilation including computer databases, protects software or computer programme
• If the work is modified by third party with basic alteration and without any creativity of its own then the original copyright holder will be eligible to claim infringement on the grounds of substantial copying and absence of flavour of minimum requirement of creativity
• When a business uses a particular name or image in association with its activities it is granted a basic form of intellectual property protection.This is called a common law trademark and it is acquired as soon as the business makes something or markets itself
• In order to increase that protection the business must formally register a trademark.Once it is registered, it can use the R-ball symbol after its name or logo and competitors are barred from using the trademark
• Trademarks protects a business or organization's rights in the event that someone copies a business' name or visual identity
• The invention which is to be protected by a patent must be new, useful, functional and innovative that is the solution for which the patent protection is sought should not be obvious
• After the patent was awarded, the patent owner has an exclusive right to prevent others from the commercial use of the patented invention
• An alternative to the patenting is the defensive publication which is used to prevent other parties from obtaining patent protection on a patentable innovation
• An exclusive right providing legal protection into the ornamnetal design of a useful product is granted under the design patent .Design of a printer, shape of spoons etc are some examples that can be granted design patent.