WHO'S SUING WHO The computer-related legal arena has been active lately. According to an article in the December COMPUTE, the League for Programming Freedom has been formed to protest the increase in "look and feel" lawsuits. The controversy got under way several years ago when Apple sued Microsoft, claiming that the latter's Windows infringed on the appearance of the user interface on the Macintosh. Computer industry observers have pointed out that the "point and click" interface was actually first developed by Xerox, and indeed, Xerox later sued Apple. The LPF claims that such suits are comparable to someone filing a user-interface copyright on the steering wheel. The league recently picketed Lotus Development, makers of the leading PC spreadsheet, Lotus 1-2-3, carrying signs that read "Can Las Vegas Sue Atlantic City?" In a related development, news services recently reported that a judge has ruled that Ashton-Tate's DBase, the most widely used PC data base program, is based on a public domain program developed by programmers at Jet Propulsion Laboratories. Industry observers said the ruling could topple the software giant if it is not reversed. (From The Interface, newsletter of Fresno Commodore User Group, via the Commodore Information Center, http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html, 2/9)