In 1995, Schwarzman married Christine Hearst, an intellectual-property lawyer who grew up on Long Island.

"This is unprecedented," said Allen J. Baden, an intellectual-property lawyer at Kenyon & Kenyon in New York.

"This is a very common problem," said Donald L. Kreindler, an intellectual-property lawyer at Philips Nizer, a New York firm, who specializes in the fashion industry.

He has retained the services of several intellectual-property lawyers and experts to help him navigate the ambiguous legal terrain.

For some people, including Jeffrey Frey, an intellectual-property lawyer, that is not enough.

"He was an avid reader," explained Ms. Grossman, 33, who works as an intellectual-property lawyer.

Weakens Argument Other intellectual-property lawyers agreed that the ruling could weaken the notion of look and feel as applied to software programs.

In a patent dispute, for example, two computer makers might choose a mutually respected software expert or intellectual-property lawyer as the mediator.

Martin Garbus, the intellectual-property lawyer who handled the case for the Cheevers, said that although the new book was indisputably legal, Academy's decision to publish the short stories was bad form.

Our intellectual-property lawyer says we have no legal obligation to compensate these people, but is there an ethical obligation to do so?