But, assuming the appeals court doesn't screw up and side with
Oracle, there may be no reason for the Supremes to grant certiorari UNLESS some
of them want to overturn the ruling.
Judge Alsup made the reason
for the SCotUS to take this case perfectly clear in the ruling itself. I would
be amazed if they pass over it. The problem is that there is no unified
law/policy in the US on the copyrightability of APIs. Alsup's summary of the
current state in all of the circuits makes this very clear.
A unification
almost happened with Lotus v. Borland in 1996 but the Supreme Court was
split 4 - 4 so even though the lower court ruling (that APIs can't be
copyrighted) was upheld, it did not become the law of the land. One of the
purposes of the Supreme Court is to reconcile differences between the lower
courts. Alsup's masterful ruling in this case is a bright beacon shouting "Pick
me! Pick me!"
--- Our job is to remind ourselves that there are more
contexts
than the one we’re in now — the one that we think is reality.
-- Alan Kay [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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