[GTALUG] Google wins over Oracle in Java API copyright suit

[David Collier-Brown]

On 2021-04-06 4:27 p.m., James Knott via talk wrote:

> I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that Sun made Java available 
> and encouraged it's use.  Then when Oracle bought Sun, they tried to 
> rein it back in.  They did the same with OpenOffice.  So, this boils 
> down to Oracle retroactively and unilaterally changing the terms for 
> using Java.
>
I was there at the the time, and Sun absolutely did: Java was once a 
pretty little language called Oak, designed for tiny embedded devices, 
like set-top boxes and smart cards. It grew up, and then caught 
elephantiasis. Android therefor seem to me like the kind of device an 
adult Oak was designed for.

Changing the subject slightly, the US Supreme court said "even if we 
assume you can copyright an interface, your suit will fail because it 
meets one (actually two) of the fair-use criteria". That means the 
question of copyrighting interfaces didn't get addressed.

I don't know US law, so interfaces might still be copyrightable in the 
western court-region, but I rather suspect that the next time Oracle 
wants to claim copyright on an interface, they'll have to start /all 
over again/ and try to fool the next trial judge.  They one in the Java 
case was a programmer, and didn't fall for it.

--dave






-- 
David Collier-Brown,         | Always do right. This will gratify
System Programmer and Author | some people and astonish the rest
davecb at spamcop.net           |                      -- Mark Twain

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