ARTICLE · 03 JULY 2013

Oracle V Google Update: Is Refusing Copyright Protection To Application Programming Interfaces (Apis) The Only Way To Achieve Interoperability?

Reed Smith (Worldwide)

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On 31 May 2012, U.S. District Judge William Alsup delivered a detailed judgement upholding the principle that APIs are not protected by copyright in the Oracle v Google case.

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On 31 May 2012, U.S. District Judge William Alsup delivered a detailed judgement upholding the principle that APIs are not protected by copyright in the Oracle v Google case. Oracle filed an appeal to the ruling in October 2012 and the approaching appeal date has fuelled debate in the software and intellectual property sectors, with a number of interested parties submitting amicus briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit detailing their position and stressing the impact of the eventual appeal decision.

Summary

The structure, sequence, and organisation of the 37 Java APIs at the centre of the Oracle v Google case were found not to be protected by copyright by the District Court.

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