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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday January 30 2019, @08:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the chickens-coming-home-to-roost dept.

Google has appealed its case with Oracle to the Supreme Court of the United States over a dispute about whether a java API may be copyrighted.

The ARS Technica Story: Google asks Supreme Court to overrule disastrous ruling on API copyrights.

The consensus among the comments on ARS seem to be that this will result in a substantial amount of litigation. I'm forced to ask whether this future litigation should have happened already, and that this paradigm shift is just a matter of catching up to the effects of a previous bad ruling Lotus v. Borland from the early 1990s.

I get that it is going to cause a lot of code refactoring. But won't that also create a lot of new products? The other thing to consider is that communications protocols are essentially API specifications. Historically intellectual property protection for protocols is very weak. Some (myself at least) would attribute the effectiveness of the EEE business tactic to the inability to defend protocol compatibility within the legal framework provided by the USPTO and Copyright Office.

Which is to say that an Oracle victory may expand the scope of FOSS licensing, giving FOSS developers more say over how their products are used. This would reduce barrier to entry in new communications product markets that are based on FOSS, and give more power to startups.

Yes it is going to be expensive for established players if Oracle wins. Most people seem to agree with that. That is the price of operating on a bad premise. Does it matter whether responsibility for the premise resides with a judge or a CEO? Aren't there also some upsides if Oracle wins? What are the trade offs?

Of course the whole thing could be a put on.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by pTamok on Wednesday January 30 2019, @09:52AM (8 children)

    by pTamok (3042) on Wednesday January 30 2019, @09:52AM (#793964)

    While the USA is doing it's darnedest to export the idea of extra-territorial applicability of its laws, the ruling, at present, applies to the USA. For at least a short period, use of APIs in software published outside the jurisdiction of the USA would remain non-copyrighted, until trade treaties and/or the Berne convention and related instruments catch up. That makes for an 'interesting' competitive environment.
    Much like the USA's 'noble experiment [wikipedia.org]', it will be interesting to watch, but not to participate in.

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  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday January 30 2019, @11:12AM (7 children)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 30 2019, @11:12AM (#793980) Homepage Journal

    "The Noble Experiment" was Prohibition.

    While Article 1 of the 21st Amendment repeals the 18th Amendment, Article 2 permits "Any State, Possession or Territory" to forbid the "transportation or importation into" it, thereby enabling the Dry Counties that are still found here and there in the Deep South. I regard Article 2 as taking back the actual repeal, because it enables States, Possessions and Territories to Prohibit alcohol.

    I'll Drink To That! hic!

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 30 2019, @12:59PM (6 children)

      by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday January 30 2019, @12:59PM (#794028)

      In Utah, bars and most other places are only allowed to sell 3.2% ABV beer, and if you want anything stronger you have to go to a government-run liquor store. This is largely due to the influence of the thoroughly anti-alcohol Latter-Day Saints, and thus shows the dangers of doing too much LDS.

      I'm just as glad I don't live there for this reason.

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @01:30PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @01:30PM (#794035)

        Huh?
        Bars here sell all kinds of stuff way stronger than that.
        You're confusing bar with grocery store. You can't buy anything at the grocery store including cooking sherry if it contains more than 3.2% alcohol. For that you need to go to the liquor store and yes those are state run.

        There has been quite a bit of push back though on this and change is in the air as the state begins to realize what an embarrassment it is to force a professional chef to go to a state owned liquor store just to get a cooking wine. Or to have the zion curtain where the bartender in a restaurant cannot be visible to seated patrons lest they see him pour liqour into a glass as part of someone's meal.

        A large part of this is the fault of the LDS church, but keep in mind there are entire counties outside of Utah that are completely dry and they have nothing to do with being Mormon. Puritans gotta be holier than thou and Teatotallers gotta teatotal.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @04:26PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @04:26PM (#794104)

          According to wiki, beer only bars are restricted to 3.2% beer too.

        • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 30 2019, @06:01PM

          by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday January 30 2019, @06:01PM (#794156)

          When I was in Utah visiting my sister a few years ago, all we could get in local bars was 3.2 beer. From what I understand there have been efforts to loosen the rules, but it's not like this isn't a real issue.

          --
          The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
        • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday January 30 2019, @10:38PM

          by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 30 2019, @10:38PM (#794268) Homepage Journal

          Nova Scotia outlawed opening large stores on Sundays until I think 2005 when some worth-his-every-loonie attorney conceived of subdividing each large store among a whole bunch of really small stores.

          The province still didn’t want to legalize Sunday shopping but relented due to the absurdity of everyone Sunday shopping anyway.

          --
          Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @06:01PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @06:01PM (#794157)

        In Utah, bars and most other places are only allowed to sell 3.2% ABV beer

        There is an important error here: the Utah limit to which you refer is 3.2% alcohol by weight, which is ~4% ABV (alcohol by volume).

        • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 30 2019, @06:11PM

          by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday January 30 2019, @06:11PM (#794163)

          Either way, the stuff didn't taste half as good as the regular beer I could get in my home state. I don't enjoy being drunk, but I do enjoy decently flavored beer, and that wasn't it.

          --
          The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.