False - the copyright claim was not "bogus" nor was it because Apple "claimed copyrigh.t" Apple claimed copyright on the very first Macintosh GUI released in 1984. Xerox did not object then.
In fact, Xerox was quite happy with the Capital Gains they were making on the pre-IPO stock Apple had given them in exchange for access to and use of the PARC GUI ideas. That stock increased by over 40 times... all from the sale of the Macintosh and its copyrighted desktop GUI. Xerox did not sue until 1989 ... 3-4 months after the Apple v. Microsoft suit was initiated. The lawsuit was initiated by a former IBM executive who "oversaw the early development of the IBM-PC". Connect the dots.
From the New York Times:
A Federal judge today dismissed almost all the closely watched copyright lawsuit filed by the Xerox Corporation against Apple Computer Inc.In what appears to be a sweeping victory for Apple, Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the Federal District Court in San Francisco threw out five of the six counts in Xerox's lawsuit, saying, in essence, that Xerox's complaints were inappropriate for a variety of legal reasons....
...Apple, which is based in Cupertino, Calif., said in its motion for dismissal that Xerox had no basis for its suit because Apple was merely asserting its own copyrights and not threatening Xerox's copyrights on the Star.
Apple also replied that while it might have borrowed ideas from Xerox, ideas were not protected by copyrights, only the way the ideas were expressed. Mr. Brown, Apple's attorney, said at the hearing that Xerox's asserting that it had originated the Macintosh was as preposterous as a beaver taking credit for the Hoover Dam.
Judge Walker dismissed two counts relating to Xerox's efforts to get Apple's copyright declared invalid,. . . agreeing with Apple. He also dismissed three counts relating to the unfair competition assertions, saying that the lawsuit should really be a copyright infringement case, not an unfair competition case.
Copyright 1990 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
March 24, 1990, Saturday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section 1; Page 31, Column 4; Financial Desk
HEADLINE: Most of Xerox's Suit Against Apple Barred
BYLINE: By ANDREW POLLACK, Special to The New York Times
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO, March 23
The copyright claim was not bogus in that the Judge threw out five of Xerox's six claims agreeing with Apple's motion to dismiss ... leaving only a claim that Apple intended to deprive them of their STAR technology. The judge gave Xerox 30 days to provide evidence that they had such a fear and a list of witnesses on that point. This probably was (a hard thing to do since Xerox had dropped the STAR four years before! In any case, Xerox did not produce either evidence or witness list and the case was dismissed with prejudice (meaning it could not be brought again).
The judge also pointed out the lack of timeliness in Xerox's action... quite a bit late if they were truly worried about copyright infringement.
The Xerox Alto and Star were inspirational starting points for Apple, but the original Mac GUI was far better than the Xerox or Englebart designs.