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#1 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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Google wins over Oracle
This could have affected any Android devices - readers, phones, tablets, etc. It is the correct decision/result IMO.
"Google won a jury verdict that kills Oracle’s claim to a $9 billion slice of the search giant’s Android phone business. Oracle contended that Google needed a license to use its Java programming language to develop Android, the operating system in 80 percent of the world’s mobile devices. Jurors in San Francisco federal court on Thursday rejected that argument and concluded Google made fair use of the code under copyright law....." https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...c91_story.html |
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#2 | |
Wizard
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#3 |
loving the books
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It was a travesty from the beginning. Larry Ellison is from the Steve Jobs School of patent trolling.
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#4 |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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Finally, this pathetic copyright trolling has been beaten down.
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#5 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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I'll point out that although the decision went the right way, it doesn't seem to have done so for the ideal reason.
"Jurors [...] concluded that Google made fair use of the code under copyright law." They didn't throw out the case because APIs can't be copyright, but only because they felt that use of the API was fair use. I would have preferred a result that concluded that the API on its own wasn't copyrightable. |
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#6 | |
Guru
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#7 | |
No Comment
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#8 |
Grand Sorcerer
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The obvious solution is that software is not copyrightable. As a programmer, I know that every piece of software is built on top of someone else's software. That's the way programming works, you use common patterns that have been used by everyone for years. It's pretty obvious that copyright was intended for individual works of art. The idea that software was copyrightable was simply a lawyer's construction in an attempt to create a barrier against other people entering their market.
Frankly, if Oracle is successful in trying to use Java to extort money out of other companies, it will destroy the software industry. Obviously, programmers will start moving to other platforms, but the problem is that no platform is safe. |
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#9 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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There's nothing wrong with software being copyrightable. Although I would prefer it to be in its own category rather than shoe-horned into literary work. But an API just shouldn't be copyrightable at all. |
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#10 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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But API's are a mixed bag: in some ways they are an expression of an idea and in other ways they are an idea expressed by the code they call. If they aren't copyrightable they would likely be patentable and that would be more troublesome than being copyrightable. Going with fair use might be the best ruling for Google supporters. Just remember the case is not over. Appeals remain. |
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#11 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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All those PostScript clones will stop. Wine will be no more. there's an amazing amount of software built on the free re-implementations of APIs. |
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#12 |
Grand Sorcerer
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I can see copyright for the documentation of an API, not the API itself. To me a patent makes much more sense for an API since it is a functional entity. In either case any elements that are staright-forward extensions of previously existing APIs should be excluded from protection.
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#13 |
eBook Enthusiast
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In all honesty I can see no reason why an API would not be protected by copyright. Is the design of an API not a creative process? If it is (and it certainly seems to me that it is) then it should automatically be protected by copyright under the Berne Convention.
Does anyone know what the arguments are to the contrary? |
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#14 | ||
Illiterate newbie
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In sense it would be like copyrighting using of certain terminology in certain contexts. Also in EU APIs aren't copyrightable... http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2...opolise-ideas/ Quote:
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#15 |
Award-Winning Participant
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Would a verdict for Oracle have meant that AT&T could claim infringement for all Linux and other *NIX implementations?
Anyway, knowing nothing about the case besides what I read in this thread, I'm glad Google won. Oh, and the thread title had me confused. I thought it was saying that Google had convinced Oracle to come over to Google's side, i.e. they won them over. Last edited by ApK; 05-27-2016 at 02:30 PM. |
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