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Re: Oracle Java license question

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On 1/28/2015 8:51 AM, Nigel Wade wrote:
> Isn't that pretty much the crux of the Oracle vs. Google case re.
> Android? Oracle claim that the API itself is copyright, and that by
> developing code which provides an alternative implementation of that API
> Google violated the copyright on the API. The Federal Circuit Court of
> Appeals upheld Oracle's claim in 2013.

Said case is currently pending before the US Supreme Court as a petition 
for certiorari. From what I recall of the laws, interoperability is 
notionally a permissible use (even the DMCA permits reverse engineering 
of programs for interoperability), although the culture post-DMCA is so 
far tilted to the copyright owners that such protections are nothing 
more than words.

Just because a circuit court upholds a decision does not make it 
precedent (cf. State Street), especially if the Supreme Court decides to 
weigh in.

Reading the petitions, Oracle claims that the method, er, prototypes of 
Java were copyrightable because (roughly speaking) they're "creative" 
and "large" (if I read one more "over 7,000 lines" in this petition, I 
want to punch their lawyer)--effectively claiming they're not an API but 
actually regular code instead. Reading the amici, it strongly looks like 
that almost everyone agrees (including groups nominally pro-copyright) 
that the Federal Circuit Court was idiotic and wrong for saying APIs 
were copyrightable. One amicus even argued that certiorari shouldn't be 
granted because (paraphrasing) it's bloody obvious that the Federal 
Circuit Court made a simple mistake in fact of law, and that's no reason 
to grant certiorari.

Side note: if you want to have a laugh, go read some legal briefs. I 
liked the example one gave that this case is like a screw manufacturer 
(named Delphi) declaring their screws to be "sculptures" to prevent 
competitors from copying them.

-- 
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not 
tried it. -- Donald E. Knuth

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Oracle Java license question Sebastian <news@seyweiler.dyndns.org> - 2015-01-26 15:48 +0100
  Re: Oracle Java license question Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2015-01-26 10:11 -0500
  Re: Oracle Java license question Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-01-26 10:46 -0500
    Re: Oracle Java license question Sebastian <news@seyweiler.dyndns.org> - 2015-01-27 18:15 +0100
      Re: Oracle Java license question Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-01-27 23:19 +0000
        Re: Oracle Java license question Nigel Wade <nmw@ion.le.ac.uk> - 2015-01-28 14:51 +0000
          Re: Oracle Java license question Joshua Cranmer 🐧 <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2015-01-28 11:28 -0600
          Re: Oracle Java license question Sebastian <news@seyweiler.dyndns.org> - 2015-01-28 18:46 +0100

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