The impact of Oracle's defense of API copyrights

Recent examinations of Oracle's strategy in its Java copyright infringement case against Google reveal tactics that could seriously jeopardize the US software industry, depending on how the Ninth Circuit Court rules.

The broad issue of the lawsuit, launched in August 2010, is this: Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems' Java technology when it bought Sun in 2010. Google needed to use Java-like technology in its Android mobile operating system. Rather than licensing Java from Oracle to use in Android, Google developed a "clean room" version of the Java virtual machine, Dalvik, for Android instead. Oracle now claims that Dalvik deliberately infringes on Java, despite efforts to build Dalvik from scratch...