Even though I am not averse to IP rights generally, I strongly believe they need to be applied with their proper goals in mind and that it is deeply prejudicial

Even though I am not averse to IP rights generally, I strongly believe they need to be applied with their proper goals in mind and that it is deeply prejudicial to all concerned when they are misapplied - in that vein, my view is that APIs should not be copyrightable, as this to me is an abuse of the principles of copyright (if a rare API design is so novel as to be worthy of protection, it should be protected by patent). In the Ninth Circuit, however, the same Johnson Controls case that held that the components of a computer program are to be assessed item-by-item to determine what is protectible and what is not also set forth the (judge-invented) doctrine that the structure, sequence and organization of elements in a computer program can be protected by copyright even if the discrete pieces are not in themselves expressive. Taking this as its point of departure, Oracle argues at length about all of the "expressive choices" that were made in the 166 API packages that are part of Java (and in the 37 API packages specifically at issue in this case), how they are named in special ways, how they are structured to take certain parameters and not others, how some call certain classes and methods not others, etc. Oracle further argues that Google could have achieved the same functionality that it gained from copying the APIs through "other means" such as APIs with different names and the like and that it could have done so without using the identical "sequence, structure, and organization" used in the Java APIs. It analogizes all this to a musical composition that is readily protectible under copyright even though individual notes are not. I personally think the Oracle argument is a crock but, when you are able to devote huge resources to developing a case, when you can hire the best experts who can attest to the countless forms of "creative expression" of the type alluded to above, when you can pay the best lawyers to spin it out endlessly from every conceivable angle, you get the scary prospect of a court buying into this sort of analysis and mechanically concluding that, yes, all this is protected by copyright because it is "expressive" and not merely functional. This is why I think that the judge, who is bound to follow the Ninth Circuit precedent, will really need to dig deep to make a definitive ruling here that APIs are not protectible by copyright as a matter of law. An appeals court will have more freedom, however, and can focus on the purpose of copyright law and on why it is absurd in light of modern programming realities to give any party the power to monopolize API-style functionality in ways that will paralyze the industry. The judge is a very good judge and he may also land on the right conclusion - it is just harder for him because he is bound by some restrictive precedents.