On December 6, 1994,
Apple initiated legal action against the San Francisco Canyon Company, asserting that the company collaborated with Intel and Microsoft in appropriating code developed under contract for QuickTime for Windows.
QuickTime was initially released for the Macintosh in December 1991, prompting Apple to enlist the San Francisco Canyon Company in 1992 to port it to the Windows platform. Microsoft’s Video for Windows, introduced a year after QuickTime, lagged behind in sophistication. In 1993, Intel engaged the San Francisco Canyon Company to enhance their video technology. Following this collaboration, Intel and Microsoft jointly improved Video for Windows, achieving a version that rivalled the quality of QuickTime. Apple discovered that code created by the San Francisco Canyon Company for QuickTime was present in the enhanced Video for Windows and, in response, filed a lawsuit against the company in 1994. In 1995, Apple extended the legal action to include Intel and Microsoft, alleging that these companies knowingly utilized the San Francisco Canyon Company to misappropriate QuickTime code. The lawsuit, initially posing a significant threat to Microsoft, was famously settled by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in 1997. This resolution is now recognized as instrumental in Apple’s survival, paving the way for their transformative journey in the 2000s, shaping the mobile device revolution and The New World of Technology.