The aforementioned APIs are already made available under Apache-2 in
Harmony.
Jonathon Schwartz:
[a]nybody else who wanted to go
create their own runtime, whether it was Apache Harmony or GNU Classpath, was
free to do so; they just couldn't call it Java.
Why shouldn't
Google have derived their implementation from this? As far as OpenJDK was
concerned, the conventional wisdom was that there were
patent land
mines buried in that code. Google would have been up against the same TCK
problem since the terms of the TCK were the same. Almost everyone thought the
danger was in patents, not in API copyrights. For that reason alone, GNU
Classpath or Apache Harmony would be a better choice than OpenJDK if they wanted
to respect Sun's IP rights.
Oracle has already admitted they are asking the
judge to make "new law" regarding API copyrights. How was Google supposed to
predict that Oracle would do something as hare-brained as that?
Look at the
early coverage of this case in the tech media. Almost everyone was focused on
the patent claims even though everyone knew Android was making use of Harmony
and Java APIs (it was headline news back when Android was released in November
of 2007). If the people covering this case believed APIs could be copyrighted
then the API claims would have been much bigger news than the patent claims.
If people in the pro-Oracle camp (paid or otherwise) believed APIs could be
copyrighted then their headlines would have been screaming about APIs, not about
patents. The API claims would have been a slam-dunk for Oracle (except for
estoppel and
laches and all
that stuff).
Oracle pulled these API claims out of their hat with no legal
precedents. They admit they are asking the judge to change how the law works.
Yet somehow Google was supposed to predict this? Even with all the smart
people that work there, not even Google is that clever.
--- 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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