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Judge Rules API's Can Not Be Copyrighted

Posted by samzenpus on from the listen-to-the-law dept.

Asmodae writes "Judge Alsup in the Oracle vs Google case has finally issued his ruling on the issue of whether or not APIs can be copyrighted. That ruling is resounding no. In some fairly clear language the judge says: 'So long as the specific code used to implement a method is different, anyone is free under the Copyright Act to write his or her own code to carry out exactly the same function or specification of any methods used in the Java API.'"

4 of 365 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Seriously? by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Funny

    And let's remember how much more quickly your competitor could go to market. He surely owes you billions for this.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  2. A Dark Day by Safety+Cap · · Score: 4, Funny

    Without the incentive of copyright, no one will ever make an API again.

    How will people get paid for setting up third-party access to their data and functionality?

    You laugh now, but the internet is just one big API, and now it will go da--#&@$(#$& NO CARRIER

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    Yeah, right.
  3. Re:Good to Know by mug+funky · · Score: 3, Funny

    wtf troll?

    i like the implication that presidents are omnipresent though. kinda like an omnipresident.

  4. Re:Congratulations to Judge Alsup by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Funny

    More specifically, a slow eclipse, as though there were any other kind.

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