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> this would have the effect of making APIs copyrightable No, only if there has been some copying of substantial portions of copyrighted works. Talking about a

• Natsu 7y ago
  > No, only if there has been some copying of substantial portions of copyrighted works. The only 'substantial portions' at stake in this lawsuit are the API declaration itself, which merely tells the system where to find the right code and does not implement any logic. It is absolutely required to copy that and other APIs in order to be compatible, which is why I'm really worried about a lot of judges who have minimal, if any, understanding of the ramifications of this deciding it. Alsup actually understood the issues, but he got overruled by clueless judges.
  • pron 7y ago
    > which merely tells the system where to find the right code and does not implement any logic. This is not true (declarations in Java are evaluated at runtime and compiled to real machine instructions -- i.e. they perform very real logic; also, what algorithm or logic does the following "implementation" Java code describe `return a + b;` ?), but even if it were, I don't see the relevance to copyright. Maybe there are other arguments for excluding such code from copyright, but I am not aware of exclusions for "code that doesn't implement any logic". That's just not the law. > It is absolutely required to copy that and other APIs in order to be compatible That is a fair use question, and it is certainly possible that copyrighted code can be copied for compatibility as a fair use. But this case is about Android, and Android is not and was never intended to be compatible. Google admitted that in court, and said that their goal wasn't compatibility but reaching a large pool of developers who would be familiar with the general structure. I don't know if "familiarity" is a fair-use defense, but that is another question before the court.
    • Natsu 7y ago
      > This is not true (declarations in Java are evaluated at runtime and compiled to real machine instructions Yeah, so what? That's just the system putting the right values in the right place. Also, it obscures the fact that this resulting JVM bytecode could, in fact, be very different for Google & Oracle's implementation, though some parts of it will likely be similar just because programmers choose the simplest/most efficient ways to do things and those are necessarily similar. > what algorithm or logic does the following "implementation" Java code describe `return a + b;` ?) Addition, normally, though operators can be overridden so it might be string concatenation or whatnot depending on the types. > That is a fair use question, and it is certainly possible that copyrighted code can be copied for compatibility as a fair use. More to the point, Google won as to fair use before the jury before a judge overturned their verdict... Anyhow, yes, changing all the names means that you have to do trivial and stupid rewrites of lots of code to replace names. Whether someone named something to return the maximum of several elements max() or maximum() or what have you is not the sort of 'creativity' that Congress ever had in mind to protect. Copyright was designed in an age when written works were creative rather than functional and several of the doctrines need to be adapted to make any sort of reasonable purpose out of this. The fact is that making APIs copyrightable would cause a lot of legal destruction--senseless lawsuits that enrich only lawyers and impoverish the public--while destroying a lot of innovation and open source that the public already has for the sole benefit of IP law firms. It shouldn't be surprising that only those who hope to profit by trolling the people who actually make useful stuff are excited by this.
      • pron 7y ago
        > That's just the system putting the right values in the right place. Not in Java, but again, it's irrelevant for the question of copyright. > Addition, normally, though operators can be overridden This line could be one of three or more different algorithms in Java. Both it and the declaring code together define the operation. But this, too, is hardly relevant. > Also, it obscures the fact that this resulting JVM bytecode could, in fact, be very different for Google & Oracle's implementation This has nothing to do with copyright. The law doesn't say that as long as you don't copy everything it's OK to copy anything. It does, however, take into consideration the amount of material copied when it comes to fair use. For example, it's possible that it's OK to copy a small, simple API, or that it's even OK to copy a large API for the sake of compatibility, as neither of these is the case being discussed here, and the size of the copied code, and the fact that it's not compatible are crucial elements of the case, and a focus of the court. > Whether someone named something to return the maximum of several elements max() or maximum() or what have you is not the sort of 'creativity' that Congress ever had in mind to protect. True, and if you'd read the court documents you'll know that this is not at all the case here. The corresponding code in the, say, Swift or C# standard libraries is drastically different, yet it was this particular very large chunk of code that's been copied; not from C#, not from Swift. They copied hundreds of pages of unique code. > The fact is that making APIs copyrightable would cause a lot of legal destruction Maybe, but that this is about "copyrighting APIs" is just some an opinion and one possible interpretation of the case. Would punishing a company for copying hundreds of pages of code, for commercial gain, and not for compatibility cause a lot of legal destruction? Are you familiar with many other cases of people doing that?