A federal judge ruled late Friday that Borland International Ltd infringed on parts of Lotus Development Corp’s copyright on the 1-2-3 spreadsheet. 1-2-3 is copyrighted, US District Court Judge Robert Keeton wrote in a 49-page decision. Borland copied copyrightable elements of 1-2-3 that constitute a substantial part of that program. He ruled that a jury trial is needed to determine how much Borland copied of the user interface of 1-2-3. Yesterday, Borland started shipping versions of Quattro Pro 4.0 without the 1-2-3-compatible menu system, noting that the omission is not required under the court ruling and adding that 90% of Quattro Pro users now use the native menu systems rather than the outdated 1-2-3 system; 1-2-3 macros will still run under Quattro Pro’s native menus. Borland will continue to make the optional 1-2-3 compatible command system file available to customers on request for a nominal charge to cover the cost of shipping and handling the thing.
