Re:Google’s Supreme Court faceoff with Oracle was a disaster...
by phire on Friday October 09, 2020 @12:27AM
(#24726825)
Are google deliberately not arguing the "APIs should be patentable but not copyrightable" angle because they think that would make the situation even worse than it already is?
Re:Google’s Supreme Court faceoff with Oracle was a disaster...
by imtringued on Friday October 09, 2020 @05:33AM
(#24728238)
Patents are opt in while copyright is opt out. If APIs are copyrightable Google will never get access to the Java API, ever. If someone gets a patent then it will expire eventually. Of course Google wants to go back to the status quo: APIs not being protected by IP rights.
Re:Google’s Supreme Court faceoff with Oracle was a disaster...
by int_19h on Saturday October 10, 2020 @06:32PM
(#24742361)
Is this actually the status quo? There are patents on APIs around, and since they were granted, it would seem that USPO, at least, doesn't think that APIs are inherently unpatentable.
Though the choices are creative, it's necessary to replicate them exactly to produce a functioning interface for existing Java code. It's like a design for an electrical connector; maybe patentable, but it's essential to the function so shouldn't be copyrightable.