Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland International

Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland International was a legal case where Lotus claimed that Borland’s software menu commands, like "Close" and "Copy," infringed on Lotus's copyright. The court ruled that these command names were more like basic ideas or functions, which cannot be owned through copyright. This case clarified that functional terms and common command labels in software are not protected by copyright, emphasizing that copyright doesn’t cover ideas or basic functions but only creative expression.