A challenge of the copyright for user interface

Themes Removed At Apple’s Behest @ Slashdot.org
[14th December, 2000; 07.44]

A couple of people wrote in nothing that themes.org has had to comply with a request from Apple that they remove the following themes: Aqua, AquaX, eMac, and eMac-GTK.

Themes Removed At Apple’s Request @ Themes.org
[13th December, 2000; 04.34]

Last week, VA Linux Systems received a letter from Apple Computer, Inc. objecting to some themes hosted on the Themes.org website. We have reviewed the letter and decided to accommodate Apple’s request, and have removed those themes from the website, pending resolution of Apple’s objections with the theme developers. Themes removed include: Aqua, AquaX, eMac and eMac-GTK. If you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact Greg Sanders at kfc@themes.org.

Yes, Apple is a business and they have also many rights to be protected. So even if you write some interface on MacOS and it supports themes, Apple will claim against MacOS-like theme in such alternative interface. Except for the private usage of such themes, we can not state a valid ney for Apple. This issue seems to be near to one in so-called “business model”. More and more companies intend to register procedures or approaches. Such procedures are, clearly based on HTML, JavaScript, or another languages and softwares. But rights for approaches to buy something is different from them. Similarly the right of user interface is different from development language.

But we feel something nasty with Apple. We don’t think such themes as representatives or substitutions of MacOS. We know we should buy a ‘puter of Apple to use a true environment of MacOS, whether it may be comfortalbe or not :P Such themes prevent us buying products of Apple? No, I think.

２ちゃんねるで書かせていただきましたとおり、上の話題についてメールを送ってもらっても構いません。どういった意見があるのか関心があります。ちなみに、わたくしは本職の科学哲学では決して「anything goes（なんでもあり）」というフレーズは使いません（笑。まあ、権利はあるからアップルの言い分は正当ですが、とりわけ上路さんのところは商売じゃないんだし、「一種の宣伝効果がある」くらいに見られないもんかね？　テーマが出てるせいでマックが売れてないんじゃないと思うよ、実際。