Tooth and Nail

Borland International, announcing that the market share (in units) for its popular Quattro Pro spreadsheet program has risen to 28 percent, received unusual congratulations from Lotus Development. Apparently displeased by Quattro Pro's five-fold sales increase, Lotus filed suit against Borland, charging copyright infringement on its best-selling 1-2-3 spreadsheet program. Recently, Lotus was successful in a similar suit against Paperback Software International and Stephenson Software. In that suit, Federal District Court Judge Robert Keaton issued a 113-page decision that said the user interface of 1-2-3, including the structure, sequence, and organization of the program's menus, is copyrightable.

Borland doesn't like to let a compliment go unacknowledged, however. It has filed a countersuit against Lotus, seeking court confirmation that award-winning Quattro Pro doesn't infringe any copyrights of 1-2-3.

In addition to the recent successful lawsuits against Paperback Software and Stephenson Software, Lotus has filed a similar suit against The Santa Cruz Operation claiming its SCO Professional spreadsheet program also violates copyrights on 1-2-3.