Is Windows GUI Interface copyrighted?

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Well I have been using a Linux which GUI interface really resembles Windows, including the "Start" button at the bottom left. The question is: does it violate the copyright law to create such Linux interface? Mind you, it really looks like Windows, right from the look and feel to the elements; the cross icon, the minimize button, etc.

[Destructionator XV]

The Windows GUI is copyrighted, so taking a screenshot of Windows and distrubting it would be techinically copyright infringment AFAIK.

The Linux interfaces that look like it would not be copyright infringment, since they are written from scratch, and include no actual Microsoft Windows code or images.

Now, software patents and trademarks are something else. If it actually had any Microsoft images or trademarks there, that would be a violation there, and potentially the whole idea of taskbars and start menus could be patented, but that would be hard to do since they are everywhere and have been for a long time.

Another thing to keep in mind is the Windowsesque interfaces in Linux are very common. If there was legal leverage Microsoft could use to stop that, they probably would have sent cease and desist letters already.