On March 17th, 1988, Apple Computer, Inc. filed a landmark $5.5 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against Microsoft and Hewlett Packard, alleging that the "look and feel" of Windows 2.03 and HP's NewWave infringed on the graphical user interface of the Macintosh. The legal battle lasted six years and hinged on a meticulous "analytical dissection" of 189 specific GUI elements. Eventually, District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled in 1992 that 179 of those elements were already covered by the 1985 license Apple granted Microsoft, while the remaining 10 were either unoriginal (referencing work from XEROX PARC) or were functional ideas rather than protectable expressions. The decision was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1994, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 1995. Due to the ruling, Apple's market dominance faced a major blow, which effectively paved the way for Microsoft Windows to become the global industry standard.
