<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(51,0,51)">To me, it seems the jurors in the case need an easy to understand comparison, because writing APIs, implementing APIs, and what can/should be protected/protectable by copyright law is not clear.<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(51,0,51)">I proffer that an API is not far unlike a camper or trailer that offers a trailer hitch. The common interface for implementing the trailer is to haul it with a vehicle (could be any vehicle) that's able to offer the proper trailer ball. The trailer's lights are also able to be implemented via a common wire harness, which allows the connecting vehicle to make calls to (by way of passing or not passing voltage) the lighting on the trailer.<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(51,0,51)">Take this, and expand it, and you have a simple way for the courts to understand what's at the heart of the case.<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(51,0,51)">I don't believe you can offer a trailer hitch, and then come back and sue the maker of the tow ball for implementing that interface. On the other hand, the design behind how the trailer is constructed, such that it has structure, stability, and strength to be suitably towed by a single point, yeah, sure - that could be a protected design. <br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(51,0,51)">My $0.02.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(51,0,51)"><br><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 13, 2016 at 5:47 AM, Rob Funk <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rfunk@funknet.net" target="_blank">rfunk@funknet.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><span class="">Rick Hornsby wrote:<br>
> I'm a little bit confused by the $9B Oracle-Google fight[1].<br>
> I don't understand how using an API is a copyright violation, which<br>
> makes me think I'm missing some salient point here.<br>
<br>
</span>Simple: The legal arena mostly doesn't understand this stuff.<br>
<a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/read/in-google-v-oracle-the-nerds-are-getting-owned" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://motherboard.vice.com/read/in-google-v-oracle-the-nerds-are-getting-owned</a><br>
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
colug-432 mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:colug-432@colug.net">colug-432@colug.net</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.colug.net/mailman/listinfo/colug-432" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.colug.net/mailman/listinfo/colug-432</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>