The thing about lawsuits is, no matter how crushing and final the verdict may seem, there's always the appeal. In particular we're thinking about Microware's trademark infringement suit against Apple for naming the latest Macintosh operating system "Mac OS 9." Microware, in case you haven't been paying attention, has been using the name "OS-9" for well-nigh twenty years now, and registered it as a trademark in 1989. The reason for the suit isn't so much that Apple's using a similar name, but that Microware's OS-9 also just happens to be a computer operating system-- and one that's available for the PowerPC, at that. Customer confusion time! Or, at least, that's what Microware alleged.

However, the court didn't seem to agree. Apple announced a couple of weeks back that the case had been dismissed by the United States District Court, who ruled that Apple employed "fair use" when naming its product. Evidently the difference between a consumer operating system that only runs on Macs and an embedded real-time OS for smart blenders and automatic coffeemakers is a pretty vast gulf, at least in the court's opinion. But don't consider this plotline over just yet, because Microware just issued a press release announcing its intention to file an appeal. Why? Well, honestly, we're not all that sure; the stated purpose of the appeal is to "protect its intellectual property rights," but frankly, at this point, we just don't see how Apple using the name "Mac OS 9" affects Microware at all. Then again, that's just the entirely uninformed opinion of an outsider; maybe the Microware folks are just tired of people asking them, "Oh, so you guys do work for Apple, then?"

And there's always the chance that little, if anything, will come of Microware's appeal for a long time. Surely you remember Imatec and its billion-dollar ColorSync lawsuit. That case was almost laughed out of court; not only was Apple found not to have violated Imatec's patents, but the court also ruled that the patents in question weren't even Imatec's to begin with. Imatec issued one last press release announcing its intention to appeal-- and we haven't heard a word since January. (For a press-releasing fiend like Hanoch Shalit, that's really saying something.) In fact, news of the Apple lawsuit has finally been removed from Imatec's home page, and the only entry on the News page is that lonely January press release. So can we consider the ColorSync matter resolved? Not quite-- but if Imatec's quiet period is any indication, this may be the last we hear of the Microware appeal for many moons.