A Federal Judge Delivers A Deathblow To Oracle In Oracle vs Google Java Fight
A Federal Judge Delivers A Deathblow To Oracle In Oracle vs Google Java Fight http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
I do not know about you but I was awaiting the results od landmark court case, Oracle vs Google that began on April 16. I am so relieved to find that federal judge Alsup ruled on May 31 that Oracle's Java APIs, specifically the ones presented in the case as used by Google, are not copyrightable. "Therefore, Oracle’s claim based on Google’s copying of the 37 API packages, including their structure, sequence and organization is DISMISSED," the judge Alsup wrote. I have been following the case on Groklaw for a while now and we all can get back to work on those Android apps now. Even though Oracle valuable to me in my day job, I have to say Oracle sucks!
Following is a part of the summary that Judge wrote;
The overall name tree, of course, has creative elements but it is also a precise command structure — a utilitarian and functional set of symbols, each to carry out a pre-assigned function. This command structure is a system or method of operation under Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act and, therefore, cannot be copyrighted. Duplication of the command structure is necessary for interoperability....U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Oracle America, Inc v. Google Inc., 10-3561
Contrary to Oracle, copyright law does not confer ownership over any and all ways to implement a function or specification, no matter how creative the copyrighted implementation or specification may be. The Act confers ownership only over the specific way in which the author wrote out his version. Others are free to write their own implementation to accomplish the identical function, for, importantly, ideas, concepts and functions cannot be monopolized by copyright.
