On Monday, May 7th, the jury in Oracle v Google reached a partial
verdict, which was based on instructions from Judge Alsup to assume
that the structure, sequence, and arrangement of Oracle's Java APIs
are subject to copyright. Whether or not Oracle can actually claim
copyright on the Java API will be determined by Judge Alsup at a later
date.
The following statement is attributed to John Sullivan, executive
director of the Free Software Foundation:
Were it grounded in reality, Oracle's claim that copyright law gives
them proprietary control over any software that uses a particular
functional API would be terrible for free software and programmers
everywhere. It is an unethical and greedy interpretation created
with the express purpose of subjugating as many computer users as
possible, and is particularly bad in this context because it comes
at a time when the sun has barely set on the free software
community's celebration of Java as a language newly suitable for use
in the free world. Fortunately, the claim is not yet reality, and we
hope Judge Alsup will keep it that way.
The FSF first responded to
Oracle v Google in September 2010, but at the time we focused more
on the patent aspect of the case since details about Oracle's
copyright infringement claims had not yet been published.
For more information on Monday's ruling, we recommend Groklaw's
coverage,
as well as EFF lawyer Julie Samuels's
article
on why APIs should not be subject to copyright.
About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to
promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and
redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and
use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating
system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free
software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and
political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites,
located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information
about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
About Free Software and Open Source
The free software movement's goal is freedom for computer users. Some,
especially corporations, advocate a different viewpoint, known as
"open source," which cites only practical goals such as making
software powerful and reliable, focuses on development models, and
avoids discussion of ethics and freedom. These two viewpoints are
different at the deepest level. For more explanation, see
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html.
ICT4PE&D
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