Pennsauken firm's suit says its software was copied By Andrea Knox Insurer Staff Writer The worm has turned for Franklin Computer Corp., which got caught three years ago copying computers made by Apple Computer Inc. Now the Pennsauken company is charging that its own computer system is being copied. In a suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Camden, Franklin said a competing machine, the new Laser 128 personal computer, includes a key piece of software that is copied from software to which Franklin owns the rights. In the suit, which also names as defendants a software company and a number of retail distributors. Franklin asks the court to stop distribution of the Laser 128 and to award Franklin punitive damages. Sales of the Laser 128, which began in the last two months, are hurting sales of Franklin computers, the company said in the suit. The $350 to $400 price of the Laser 128 is "considerably less" than that of Franklin's computers, it add .d At issue is a "booting program," instructions stored in the computer that transfer information from a floppy disk to the computer's memory. Franklin alleges the booting program in the Laser 128 is copied from a program designed for Franklin by Language Arts of Portland, Ore., and to which Franklin bought the rights. Although Franklin no longer uses the program, it has a copyright on it, according to the suit. It alleges the owners of Language Arts, operating as Central Point Software Inc., sold or licensed the program to the manufacturers of the Laser 128, Video Technology Computers Inc. of Northbrook, EX, and Video Technology Computers Ltd. of Hong Kong. Michael Brown, president of Central Point, denied the allegations in an interview last night ' The software in the Laser 128 is not at all the same as the software we sold to Franklin in 1984," Brown said. "We feel they're doing this as a rather unethical attempt to block the 128, which was out many months before their machine, to provide them a competitive advantage. We'll fight it all the way, because we're sure we're right" Although only 45 percent of the booting program in the Laser 128 is a direct copy of the Franklin program, the copied portions are the most critical parts of it. Franklin charges. Its suit is based on a landmark 1983 ruling by a federal appeals court in a case filed by Apple against Franklin. The court dismissed Franklin's contention that operating systems, the software that handles internal computer functions such as loading programs, were not subject to copyright. Franklin agreed in 1984 to pay Apple $25 million and to develop its own operating system. That, plus the $1 million cost of developing a new operating system, nearly put Franklin out of business. The company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and had announced its intention to liquidate before developing a system allowing it to stay in business. The first operating system developed under the Franklin-Apple agreement, which was created by Language Arts under contract from Franklin, is the software at issue in Franklin's suit against the Laser 128.
