Remember when Google won the lawsuit against Oracle for Android’s copyright infringement on Java? That ruling, which was from a Districts court in San Francisco, has been overruled by a Federal Appeals court, which has practically rubbished the former’s decision. The new ruling states that Oracle’s Java APIs, the ones it acquired as a part of its Sun Microsystems acquisition, do fall under copyright and hence, a new trial on fair use and damages will follow. This is a big blow to Google, purveyor of the omnipresent Android operating system, as it would need to face a fresh set of trials, again. Oracle, on the other hand, will see this as an opportunity to get back at the Mountain View company.
District Judge Alsup’s ruling on the 2012 lawsuit between the two tech giants declared that Oracle’s Java API packages do not come under copyrightability, which is what Google had argued for. Oracle was obviously not happy with the result and took it to the Federal Appeals court, which has specifically agreed with Oracle’s counter argument that the Java API packages are indeed copyrightable. This is what the ruling reads –
“Oracle asserts that all of the trial court’s conclusions regarding copyrightability are erroneous. Oracle argues that its Java API packages are entitled to protection under the Copyright Act because they are expressive and could have been written and organized in any number of ways to achieve the same functions. Specifically, Oracle argues that the district court erred when it: (1) concluded that each line of declaring code is uncopyrightable because the idea and expression have merged; (2) found the declaring code uncopyrightable because it employs short phrases; (3) found all aspects of the SSO devoid of protection as a ‘method of operation’ under 17 U.S.C. § 102(b); and (4) invoked Google’s ‘interoperability’ concerns in the copyrightability analysis. For the reasons explained below, we agree with Oracle on each point.”
You read that right. The appeals court disagrees with the districts court on each and every point that Oracle found the latter to be erring on. The appeals court also apparently understands the complexity of software related patents, which are usually vague and have a lot of loop holes. There is a lot more to this ruling than what we have mentioned above, so if you are interested to read the complete ruling, which touches upon the dismissal of Google’s earlier arguments, go ahead and click the source link, but beware, it’s a 69 page document. In the end, what you have to know is, Oracle and Google will be back in the courts, fighting for copyright infringement on Android. This could have major repercussions in the ecosystem, but since Google is already pushing ART in the place of Dalvik in its latest 4.4 KitKat update, the issue won’t be affecting consumers. But even if it does, it will be a long time from now. So sit back and stay tuned for more information, we’ll keep you posted.
Source Appeals Court via FOSSPatents