Paperback Software
{{Short description|Former software company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Paperback Software International
| logo =
| type = Limited
| industry = Software engineering
| fate = Dissolved
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| founded =
| founder = Adam Osborne
| defunct =
| hq_location_city =
| hq_location_country = United States
| area_served =
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}}
Paperback Software International Ltd. was a software company founded in 1983 by Adam Osborne to manufacture discount software such as word processor Paperback Writer and related spell checker Paperback Speller, spreadsheet VP-Planner,{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/05/business/a-divisive-lotus-clone-war.html
|title=A DIVISIVE LOTUS 'CLONE' WAR |date=February 5, 1987 |url-access=limited}}{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/15/business/three-officials-quit-paperback.html
|title=Three Officials Quit Paperback
|date=June 15, 1988 |url-access=limited}} database VP-Info, and the VP-Expert artificial intelligence software. VP-Expert was developed by Brian Sawyer{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/vpexpert0000sawy |title= VP-Expert |date= 1987 |isbn= 978-0-87142-028-2 }} The company was headquartered in Berkeley, California.{{cite web |url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C1178123 |title= Paperback Software International}}
History
The company was found by a United States court to have infringed on copyright for reproducing the appearance and menu system of Lotus 1-2-3 in its competing spreadsheet program,{{cite news
|newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/29/business/lotus-wins-copyright-decision.html
|title=Lotus Wins Copyright Decision |date=June 29, 1990 |url-access=limited}}{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/03/business/lotus-sues-2-on-copyright-violation.html
|title=Lotus Sues 2 On Copyright Violation
|author=John Markoff |date=July 3, 1990 |url-access=limited}} even though they did use different source code.{{cite web
|author1=bsobel|title=Lotus Development Corp. v. Paperback Software International
|url=https://h2o.law.harvard.edu/collages/18998 |website=H2O |accessdate=May 29, 2016|date=January 19, 2015}}{{cite web |author=Gerard J. Lewis
|title=COMMENT: LOTUS DEVELOPMENT CORP. V. PAPERBACK SOFTWARE INTERNATIONAL: BROAD COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR USER INTERFACES IGNORES THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY'S TREND TOWARD STANDARDIZATION.
|url=https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=52+U.+Pitt.+L.+Rev.+689&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=a49805ad22759b3d5669f5ca1d88ebaa
|website=LexisNexis |accessdate=May 29, 2016 |year=1991}}{{cite web
|author=Brian Johnson
|title=An Analysis of the Copyrightability of the "Look and Feel" of a Computer Program: Lotus v. Paperback Software
|date=1991
|url=https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/64566/OSLJ_V52N3_0947.pdf
|publisher=The Ohio State University Law Review|hdl=1811/64566
|accessdate=May 29, 2016}}{{cite web|author=Pamela Samuelson
|title=Computer Programs, User Interfaces, and Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act of 1976: A Critique of Lotus v Paperback
|url=http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol55/iss2/17ontext=lcp |website=Duke Law |accessdate=May 29, 2016|date=1992}} The loss of this lawsuit was the main cause for the foundering of the company and paved the way for future copyright law on computer software.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}}
Overview
Not only was VP Planner cheaper, it was regarded by some as better.{{cite magazine |magazine=InfoWorld
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KDsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA77
|title=InfoWorld VP Planner Product Review|date = 2 April 1990}} Adam Osborne's US Paperback Software business folded following lengthy litigation with Lotus Software.Russo, J. and J. Nafziger. "Software 'Look and Feel' Protection in the 1990s" The litigation began in 1987, when Lotus initially won a copyright claim in 1990 against Paperback Software.Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Paperback Software Int'l, 740 F. Supp. 37 (D. Mass. 1990) Lotus sued Borland over the latter's Quattro Pro spreadsheet{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/24/business/company-news-action-in-lotus-s-lawsuit.html| title=Action in Lotus's Lawsuit| website=The New York Times| date=24 March 1992}}{{cite web|title=LOTUS DEVELOPMENT CORP. v. BORLAND INTERNATIONAL INC., 49 F.3d 807 (1st Cir. 1995)|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/49_F3d_807.htm|publisher=Cornell Law|accessdate=May 29, 2016}} {{failed verification|date=June 2020}} but, after six years of litigation, lost the lawsuit. The court ruled that it is not copyright infringement to use the Lotus interface as a subset, but, by then, Paperback Software had folded, and Lotus 1-2-3 had faced intense competition from Microsoft Excel.
Legacy
VP-Info remains in use and continues to be available for download from public software archives, and through the Wayback Machine. VP-Info was revised and updated and re-published by SubRosa Corporation as the Shark database management application.VP-Info{{Circular reference|date=November 2019}} VP-Expert was the top-selling expert systems development tool, with over 120,000 units sold and site licenses at DuPont, Kodak, and the Wharton School of Business.