This failure means that the appeals court decision stands, in one portion of the United States, and may influence the other appeals courts, but it does not set a nationwide precedent. The battle is not over, and it is not limited to the United States. The battle is extending into other areas of software as well. In 1995 a company that produced a simulator for a CDC computer was shut down by a copyright lawsuit, in which CDC charged that the simulator infringed the copyright on the manuals for the computer. Imagine if each car manufacturer had to design a different way to start, stop, and steer a car.
Large companies have an unfair advantage wherever lawsuits become commonplace.
Since they can afford to sue, they can intimidate smaller developers with threats even when they don't really have a case. Interface improvements will come slower, since incremental evolution through creative partial imitation will no longer occur. Open Computing magazine reported a Microsoft vice president as threatening to sue people who imitate the interface of Windows. Users invest a great deal of time and money in learning to use computer interfaces. Far more, in fact, than software developers invest in developing and even implementing the interfaces.