But if Google wins the case based on this "chess move", then the
judge
will not
rule on whether or not APIs are copyrightable.
I
see where you are coming from but I don't think what you say has to be true.
For example, Judge Alsup said he would rule on the copyrightability of APIS
after the jury makes their decision. He explicitly said this was to help
the appeals process. So if his ruling about the APIs gets overturned and the
decision by Alsup's court is remanded, then they can fall back to the jury's
decision without having to go through a new trial.
I don't see why the
judge wouldn't use exactly the same strategy here. We could end up with Google
winning via the jury and also winning via several independent decisions by the
judge.
--- 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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