Can Computer Application Programming Interfaces Be Copyrighted?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reports that it has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a “disastrous” appellate court decision finding that com[puter application programming interfaces (APIs) can be copyrighted.
The case is Oracle v. Google.
“That decision, handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in May, up-ended decades of settled legal precedent and industry practice,” EFF said in a statement.
Forbes reports that the EFF is indicating it has the backing of 77 well-known computer scientists. In October, Google petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case, which it states has implications for technical innovation.