This is quite a hard topic for me, for an IT guy. If I would want to create some software nowadays, then most probably something similar already exists. And most probably it is already copyrighted and somebody already owns the patents for it. Today it is quite hard to create something new and unique. Here are some examples from the IT field, proving that.
Apple vs Microsoft (year 1994). Apple had agreed to license certain parts of its GUI to Microsoft for use in Windows 1.0, but when Microsoft made changes in Windows 2.0 adding overlapping windows and other features found in the Macintosh GUI, Apple filed a suit. The court insisted on the analysis of the user interface of both operating systems. Apple listed 189 elements in the suit, but the court has decided that 179 of the elements were licensed to Microsoft in the Windows 1.0 release. Turned out , that the remaining 10 elements were not copyrightable.
Oracle vs Google (ongoing). In August 2010 Oracle has filed a lawsuit against a search-engine giant Google "for developing Android". Oracle insists that Google has infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property. The case has been going on for more than a year already, and it is still not clear if Google is guilty or not.These examples are only a drop in the ocean compared to the million other patent suits. Today it is very hard to defend what is yours and to prove your authorship.
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