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Oracle Wins Revival of Billion-Dollar Case Against Google (bloomberg.com)
Google could owe Oracle billions of dollars after an appeals court said it didn't have the right to use the Oracle-owned Java programming code in its Android operating system on mobile devices. From a report: Google's use of Java shortcuts to develop Android went too far and was a violation of Oracle's copyrights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled. The case was remanded to a federal court in California to determine how much the Alphabet unit should pay.
The dispute is over pre-written directions known as application program interfaces, or APIs, which can work across different types of devices and provide the instructions for things like connecting to the internet or accessing certain types of files. By using the APIs, programmers don't have to write new code from scratch to implement every function in their software or change it for every type of device. The case has divided Silicon Valley for years, testing the boundaries between the rights of those who develop interface code and those who rely on it to develop software programs.
The dispute is over pre-written directions known as application program interfaces, or APIs, which can work across different types of devices and provide the instructions for things like connecting to the internet or accessing certain types of files. By using the APIs, programmers don't have to write new code from scratch to implement every function in their software or change it for every type of device. The case has divided Silicon Valley for years, testing the boundaries between the rights of those who develop interface code and those who rely on it to develop software programs.
On the one side you have the engineers that rely on APIs to Get Stuff Done, on the assumption that that's why the APIs exist. On the other side you have the 1% parasites who realize "oops, somebody took our work and made billions off it. Bring in the lawyers!"
They certainly are working hard to kill Java. Besides the lawsuits, Oracle also gives Java lousy support and upgrade options. Few companies can make Microsoft seem the less evil alternative (C-sharp/.NET), and Oracle is one of them.
Table-ized A.I.
A ruling in Oracle's favor would shut down the ability to use Wine to run Windows-exclusive applications on your Mac because Microsoft could assert copyright in the Windows API against the Wine developers. Is that an outcome that you find helpful to the economy?
The danger is in the precedent. If they recognize function headers as protected by copyright law then writing any drop in library will become a licencing nightmare. Who owns "int round(float)" anyway?
This is way bigger than Java and Android.
Jesus saves and takes half damage.
It's true that without the large number of Java programmers around, Android would not have had nearly as fast a rate of adoption as far as application creation went.
So? API's aren't copyright-able. Linux wouldn't exist if they were. This was settled ages ago. It's only Oracle's ability to fund the caliber of lawyers necessary to engineer an appeal that is keeping this alive. It's really just a reflection of our corrupt pay to win judicial system.
A win for Oracle here will means utter chaos in the computer industry. Copyright is automatic and it lasts under current law for about 175 years. Based on this every API ever developed on a computer would suddenly become under copyright law. Think about that. SQL would be under copyright. The C run-time library would be under copyright. Game emulators, Samba, Wine, there are thousands of entries in the list. And every one of those is going to blow up into a legal fight.
int round(float) would likely end up being owned by AT&T who would then have the legal right to charge royalties for its use.
Patents are already doing enough damage to the computer industry in America. If you want to totally destroy the American tech industry, API copyright is the way to do it.
A ruling in Oracle's favor would shut down the ability to use Wine to run Windows-exclusive applications on your Mac
First of all, I question if this is really true. It's a different case because it presents a way for executables to make system calls that work, it's not the same as an API specific to a programming language. It is very similar, I grant you that.
99.9% of WINE is the re-implementation of Microsoft libraries, just like Google reimplemented the Java libraries. There is no difference. You could just as well call the JVM an operating system, which in several ways it is.
Also, WINE is not making any money, whereas Google has made a ton of money from Android.
Most of the WINE developers are employed by CodeWeavers, which sells a commercialised version of WINE.
Double also, Microsoft benefits from people being able to run Windows applications in more places, because it encourages more Windows development.
Microsoft is trying to transforming itself into an advertising platform. Everyone that runs Windows applications without sending in as much usage data as possible to Microsoft is a loss for Microsoft.
Lastly though, I have to say think it would be awful to lose WINE. But the question is, would it be wrong?
The "commercial/exploitation rights" part of copyright are a tool to encourage innovation and competition (at least in jurisdictions that distinguish between the moral and the exploitation rights; in the US, the whole shebang is enshrined as intended to advance the useful arts etc). I don't see how extending them to cover APIs would help that.
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LMOL client side coding? HTML5? Time to call it a day Potsy. You do realize people stopped using Java Applets a LONG TIME ago for web development. However server side Java and embedded Java is an enormous market.