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In the copyright and patent infringement lawsuit between Oracle
and Google (we posted on the copyright aspects here: Copyright Protection for APIs and SDKs and APIs: Do they have copyright
protection?), a decision was reached last week by
the jury on the patent side of the claim. The jury has determined
that Google did not
infringe the two patents that Oracle held for its
Java system. This leaves the Oracle case in tatters, with no real
prospect of meaningful damages, even in light of an earlier finding
that Google infringed Oracle's copyright in the Java APIs. The
copyright side of the claim is still muddled - the judge has not
yet decided the issue of whether APIs can be the subject of
copyright protection, and the jury failed to agree on whether
Google had a "fair use" defence to the copyright
infringement that did take place... assuming that APIs can enjoy
copyright that is capable of being infringed.
Still with me? We might expect some clarity on the copyright
issue if the judge issues a determination on copyrightability.
What's more likely is that the patent decision is appealed and
the copyright decision is sent back down for a retrial, leaving the
entire issue unresolved.
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