Programmable Web/David Berlin/Supreme Court Delivers Major Blow To API Economy In Copyright Ruling

[Logan Powell]

Would like to hear what the community has to say about this:

In a decision that could potentially stifle innovation, give birth to a new breed of copyright trolls, and undo decades of industry precedent, the Supreme Court has officially declined to hear Google's appeal in the case of Oracle vs. Google; otherwise known as "the API (application programming interface) copyright case."

On the heels of some serious last-minute docket cleaning including its momentous findings regarding Obamacare and gay marriage, the Supreme Court has officially weighed-in on Oracle vs. Google, essentially supporting the US Federal Court of Appeals' prior findings that APIs are indeed copyrightable and to remand the case back to the district court where a single glimmer of hope still remains for Google. That hope -- and the only question that remains now -- is whether Google's royalty-free use of the Java APIs in Android is allowable on the grounds of "fair-use." 

http://www.programmableweb.com/news/supreme-court-delivers-major-blow-to-api-economy-copyright-ruling/2015/06/29