Re:Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour
by wtallis on Thursday May 26, 2016 @09:16PM
(#11783189)
Thus far, APIs have only been found copyrightable by the court that is specifically about patents. It's highly doubtful that any court capable of setting binding precedent on the matter will agree, especially to the same industry-destroying extent.
It should be expected that when a district court and its jury have their hands tied by a bad appeals court decision, the outcome will look a bit odd. In many ways our system of case law functions like a body of software where patches can only add lines of code, not remove them. Convoluted solutions to work around previous mistakes end up practically set in stone and refactoring is at best a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I don't know if APIs should be subject to copyright or not. I certainly don't want them to be. But since APIs have been found copyrightable, it's hard to understand how this wasn't open and shut for Oracle.