[dundee] Oracle v Google - Can API's be Copyrighted

[gordon dunlop]

I have been following this case where the jury has reached a decision on
the use of Java in Android in which Oracle, as the holder of Java patents
(from the take over of Sun), has been suing Google.

http://www.muktware.com/3585/major-victory-google-oracle-vs-google-court-case

It is now boiling down to whether the Java API's can be copyrighted, for
the legal IT pedantic the full case case can be studied on Groklaw.

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2012050909451990

The European Court of Justice has ruled that API's can't be copyrighted so
that might put the U.S. judge in a position. It might create a cascading
effect on programming patents, based upon his judgement if he decides that
API's can be copyrighted, which could end up in the U.S. Supreme court.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/05/eus-top-court-apis-cant-be-copyrighted-would-monopolise-ideas/

The most amazing thing about this is when Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
testified in court "If people could copy our software and create cheap
knockoffs of our products, we wouldn't get paid for our engineering and
wouldn't be able to invest what we invest." So why is Larry is using Red
Hat source code (free to everyone) for his Unbreakable Linux OS, which
originates from the Fedora Project, this is total hypocrisy!

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/80322

I really hope that Oracle loses here for the sake of openness and freedom.

Gordon
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/dundee/attachments/20120509/068ec713/attachment.htm>