Thermal Windows: How Well-Insulated Are Software Developers from Copying of Their Programs\u27 Visual Displays

Throughout the relatively short history of the computer industry, many disputes have arisen over unauthorized copying of computer programs. However, in most of the earlier cases, the disputed copyright protected the actual program code as a literary work rather than the visual display of the program as an artistic work. In Apple Computer,Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals confronted an alleged copyright violation resulting from copied visual displays. Because the disputed copyright protected the displays as artistic works rather than the program code as a literary work, the court was forced to apply established principles in copyright law to an area in which the law is not completely clear