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| Authored by: NigelWhitley on Thursday, April 26 2012 @ 06:47 AM EDT |
It really belongs under API thread, but it occurred to me that an API is to a
code library as the Dewey Decimal System is to a book library.
In each case, the user has a list of things they may want to use (functions or
literature, respectively). The user finds what they want in the index (API spec
or Dewey catalog) and notes what the value used to identify it (the function
template or the Dewey number). They then access what they want using that value
(by including that code or walking to the right shelf). If the library doesn't
have what they want or if the value on the item doesn't match the value in the
index, you won't get what you expect.
No-one goes to the library to read the catalog, it's just there to get at the
good stuff. And we generally don't care whether the book is hardback or soft,
what typeface is used for the text or the colour of the paper and ink, as long
as it's legible. We want the words, the ideas, the content. Changing the layout
of the catalog won't change the books either, but the numbers must still match
up if you want the catalog to be useful.
If we're going to start copyrighting directories for stuff, let's go all the
way. If you walk into a department store, you might well see a list detailing
where you should go for "Electricals" or "Menswear" (that
would be banned on Groklaw ofc - we aren't allowed to swear). If Oracle win,
could we maybe see JC Penney sue a rival who puts their "Toys" on the
2nd floor and their "Perfumes" by the entrance? Will hapless shelf
stackers be forced to constantly move their wares from floor to floor in a
desparate bid to foil the swarms of lawyers descending on them from rival
stores?
It is a slice of broad comedy just made for the late, great Norman Wisdom.
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Nigel Whitley[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 26 2012 @ 06:49 AM EDT |
Actually, I think the situation is the reverse. Oracle did NOT register the
versions of Java it is suing on as a collective work. Instead, they registered
it as a derivative work. Section 103(b) says the copyrignt in the derivative
work does not extend to the pre-existing work, only to the elements the
registrant (author) added. If I am not mistaken, Oracle has not provided proof
that it registered the prior works so they can claim infringement only in the
elements added in 1.4 and 5.0 (1.5). The Elements they claim infringement for
are from the pre-existing works, methinks...[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 26 2012 @ 07:12 AM EDT |
It was late and I was droning on a bit, but I didn't complete that thought, it's
integral to the SSO claim, but got hung up on the SSO
Judge Alsup has nailed it anyway.
Boies claimed that the 37 is "a whole work", and not a compilation and
that SSO does apply and what they were asserting, and because it was only
structure and organisation, they didn't need to do filtration.
Then he also claimed that it was 37 individual whole works, "akin to 37
journal articles, each of the APIs is a work as a whole"
Those two positions are irreconcilable.
'The APIs' was no more relevant than a license you don't need.
It was always and only ever
Oracle: I have a book(Specificaton), Google have two books (website and source
code).
replace book with 'literary work'
Now while I'm talking to you about phones, software, clean rooms distribution,
global industry, household names, licensing, agreements, hard work, big money,
I don't want you to look at the books, I want you to look at my beautiful
assistant,
When he meant 'look at the spec' he pointed at the code, and when he meant 'look
at the code' he pointed to the website, or his own spec, but he only ever
actually referred to "our IP" or "the 37 APIs".
Thank you for reading the original
I'm not very good at articulating my message.
(that's just one reason why I'm a programmer not a lawyer)
FWIW Judging from the transcripts we have, and the volume of posts on the
subject of APIs, I think Jacobs and Boies did a masterful job.
I nearly believed them.
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