Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. was the first successful attempt in a court of law in the United States to prove that computer software could be protected by copyright. A computer is a device or machine for processing information according to a program — a compiled list of instructions. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... For copyright issues in relation to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:Copyrights. ...

Franklin Computer Corporation introduced the Franklin Ace 100, a clone of Apple Computer's Apple II, in 1982. Apple quickly determined that substantial portions of the Franklin ROM and operating system had been copied directly from Apple's versions, and on May 12, 1982, filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It cited the presence of some of the same embedded strings, such as the name "James Huston" (an Apple programmer), and "Applesoft," on both the Apple and Franklin system disks. Franklin Computer Corporation is an American computer manufacturer based in Burlington, New Jersey, founded in 1981. ... The Jargon File has this definition for clone: An exact duplicate: Our product is a clone of their product. ... Apple Computer, Inc. ... The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rom is also the name of a toy and comic book character Rom (Spaceknight). ... In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. ... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789, and originally sat in Independence Hall in Philadelphia as the U.S. District Court for the District of Pennsylvania. ... In computer programming and some branches of mathematics, strings are sequences of various simple objects. ...

Franklin admitted that it had copied Apple's software but argued that it would have been impractical to independently write its own versions of the software and maintain compatibility, although it said it had written its own version of Apple's copy utility and was working on its own versions of other software. Franklin argued that because Apple's software existed only in machine-readable form, and not in printed form, and because some of the software did not contain copyright notices, it could be freely copied.

Initially, the district court found in favor of Franklin. However, the ruling was overturned in 1983 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (714 F.2d 1240 [1]), which determined that computer software, including operating systems and system ROMs, could be protected by copyright, and Apple was able to force Franklin to withdraw its clones by 1988. 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States District Courts: District of Delaware District of New Jersey Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania District of the United States Virgin Islands The court is based at... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...