Lotus Corp. Targeted By Picketers Over 'Look and Fee' Copyright Issue

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Protesting Easy As 1-2-3

Lotus Corp. Targeted By Picketers Over 'Look and Fee' Copyright Issue

Anthony Flint
The Boston Globe

May 25, 1989

The computer nerds marched on Lotus yesterday.

Pens in pockets, Radio Shack bags in hand and pickets aloft, some 150 software programmers, computer scientists and students paraded through East Cambridge to protest Lotus Development Corp.'s attempts to copyright the "look and feel" of its software products.

The protestors, led by bullhorn-toting programmer Richard Stallman and one scientist carrying a "Nerd Power" sign, say attempts by Lotus and Apple to copyright basic elements of their software will stifle the innovation and creativity of entreprenurial programmers.

The marchers liken the lawsuits by both companies to an attempt to copyright the arrangement of keys on a typewriter: it would put a straight-jacket on small programmers because they could not use basic systems. It would also eliminate compatibility and user-friendliness, they claim.

"They're simply trying to stifle competition," said Hal Abelson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who helped develop the Logo educational computer language, as he marched down a rain-soaked Main Street.

After gathering at Technology Square at noon, the protesters wound up at Lotus headquarters at 55 Cambridge Parkway, chanting "Ease of use -- not legal abuse", and "How can you steal look and feel?"

Joining the protesters were Brian Kocher, president of the Association for Computing Machinery; Ray Solomonoff, a prominent Boston mathematician, and Patrick Winston, head of MIT's artificial intelligence lab.

There was long hair and sandals to be seen, but as Stallman put it, "These are not the kind of people who would get together every day and start picketing."

Lotus issued a brief statement saying it was simply trying to protect external elements of its product, such as menu commands. The company said copyright laws could protect software without stifling innovation, just as they do with books and movies.

Caption: PHOTO

Protesters leave MIT to demonstrate at Lotus Development Corp. / Globe staff photo / Frank O'Brien