Ask HN: Can Apple sue an OS project replicating macOS's “look and feel”?

[apatheticonion]

As a Linux DE where the project expresses its intention to replicate MacOS verbatim (cleanly) - excluding Apple branding, imagery, fonts, etc.

Would they win the lawsuit?

Given it would be open source, would they sue each member of the project individually?

What if each member is in different countries - would they need to be tried in a US court?

I have heard of "trade dress" being applied to certain items, would it apply to software?

Apple are suing Samsung over the lockscreen of Samsung phones, is there a precedent here?

[MrWiffles]

Oh hell yes they could sue, and they’d win too. In countries that have similar copyright laws to that of the US, they’d sue the legal entity (non profit, LLC, whatever) behind the software for copyright and/or trademark infringement, and I’d they couldn’t sue said entity for some reason, they’d pierce the corporate veil and go after individuals. If they weren’t able to ID who’s behind it, they’d sue to block access to the entire work wherever it’s hosted.

Basically it would be tested just like piracy is already.

Which is sad, because what you’re describing is something I’d very much be interested in.

You could try to make it “pretty close”, without copying or emulating any logos, and while that’s not certain to protect against the aforementioned claims, it’s at least more defensible than a straight up copy. How much more? Depends on a whole lot of factors…