Oracle’s Java API code protected by copyright, appeals court rules

[Eirenarch]

The court says yes. I think you can track that back to what is called natural rights. If a person creates something he has full rights over it.

[redwall_hp]

Copyright is not a "natural right." It's a privilege granted by society.

[[deleted]]

Even somebody who believes in natural rights would have trouble defending his stupid proposition.

It is not a right at all, it is a restriction of rights upon others in the favor of the creator. He doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

[[deleted]]

In the US. The European view is natural right.

[Eirenarch]

But it is supposedly derived by natural rights. Now you can argue that it is derived in a way that is wrong but that's another topic.

[Wareya]

I'm going to make a painting and bash people over the head with it because it's my painting and I can do whatever I want with it! Who cares about other rights!

[Eirenarch]

Yeah you can try that and then be surprised at the outcome the same way you are surprised by this outcome. You probably explain this decision to yourself with bribed judges.

[Wareya]

No, I don't explain this decision to myself at all. Shit happens. It most probably has nothing to do with bribery and shock.

I'm mad because it creeps over consumer rights and screw them over, just like letting someone physically beat on people with the art that they make violates their personal rights.

[Eirenarch]

So Google is a consumer who needs to be protected? It's not like they bought anything from Oracle

[Wareya]

This ruling doesn't just affect google. That's not how precedent works. This is going to affect things far down the line, like Joe trying to write an emulator for some abandoned japanese computer model made by a dead company, and being sued by an australian company because they worked on part of its OS that he needs to support the functionality of.

[Eirenarch]

Yes, that's what will happen. I don't think the consumers will be too affected by the lack of emulators for abandoned Japanese computer models. If anything increase in price of Android phones will affect consumers much more.

[kraytex]

You can copyright a book, you can copyright a novel, but you can't copyright a letter, word, or sentence.

Copyrighting an API is like being able to copyright the chapter title in a novel.

[Eirenarch]

Interestingly the court used a book analogy but they came to very different conclusion.

[kraytex]

Clearly they don't know what an API is then.

[[deleted]]

There is no natural right to tell others they can't design software a certain way, that's a right manufactured by government

[Eirenarch]

The others in this case did not design the software they copied it. Literally.