[Discuss] can you copyright an API?

[me at mattgillen.net (Matthew Gillen)]

On 04/23/2012 08:58 AM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
> I loves me some android, so I don't want to see any harm come to it, but in
> this case, I think google f**ked up.  There were lots of ways they could
> have avoided all this mess... For one, they could have started with the GPL
> openjdk.  Even if they threw out and rewrote 99% of the code in there, as
> long as it started with code that Sun released under GPL, and they continue
> to develop all their modifications under GPL, then oracle wouldn't have a
> case against google...  But google didn't decide to do that.  

No, that actually wouldn't have solved the problem.  Sun granted
automatic royalty-free patent licenses only for java implementations
that met the full java specification.  The partial java implementations
(sun's own "micro edition" is one) are not included in that license waiver.

Starting with GPL code doesn't inherently protect you from patent
infringement (or copyright infringement, as the case may be).

Matt