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Thanks for the explanation. I didn’t realize that was the implication of the Oracle suit.

• hedora 6y ago
  The legal arguments around the oracle suit are pretty insane. If oracle prevails, it will be the end of interoperability as we know it, since unauthorized programatic / reproduction use of an API (and probably UI elements once the lower courts try to interpret the ruling) will become copyright infringement. Hopefully congress will step in if that happens. I’m not holding my breath though; it would immediately cement monopoly positions for any company big enough to afford lobbyists. Maybe the big tech backlash crowd will suddenly become legally/technically literate and save us?
  • bitwize 6y ago
    The legal arguments are quite straightforward. Did Google copy Oracle's APIs? Yes, they did. Could they have chosen another form of expression of the ideas in those APIs and arrived at the same technical result? Yes, they could. Was Oracle harmed by this copying? Yes they were. Therefore, Google violated copyright. A finding not in favor of Oracle would call into question whether U.S. copyright law has any force at all. While software nerds may well be okay with this, people in literally every other field of creative endeavor -- art, music, literature, media -- may lose their shirts. And the hardest hit won't be Lady Gaga or other millionaires, it'll be the small time players. There is no morally sensible universe in which the Supreme Court does not find for Oracle.
    • LocalH 6y ago
      Copyright is so far away from the original ideals, that I honestly say "fuck em". If 28 years is not enough to make your money from your creative works, then too bad.