Federal Circuit Overturns Oracle v. Google and Potentially Widens Debate over Copyright Protections

摘要

In a landmark decision concerning the copy-rightability of computer software, the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals held that Oracle, Inc. is entitled to copyright protection for 37 Java application programming interface (API) packages used by Google, Inc. in Android, the world's most widely used mobile operating system. The Federal Circuit overturned a May 2012 district court decision holding that the API packages are a "command structure, a system or method of operation" and therefore not entitled to copyright protection under the Copyright Act.