Due to the pandemic, we’ll actually be able to hear the arguments and SCOTUS questions live as well. Possibly an acquired taste, but I found the last round of phone hearings very interesting and entertaining.
Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
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Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#12I think it is quite likely that we as a society would be better off without any kind of copyright or IP. This might prevent some of the parties doing huge upfront investments in some of the projects, but if we learned something from OSS and, most importantly, Linux is that gradual and tiny improvements over 30 years can compound to a behemoth that eats any commercial solution for lunch.
True. IMHO IP law is based on a moral and not a utilitarian basis, and as we know from almost all recent FLOSS projects especially in Cloud (Linux, Kubernetes, ...) IP is just a massive hindrance to productivity and has a net negative effect on the industry.
Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#13I think it is quite likely that we as a society would be better off without any kind of copyright or IP. This might prevent some of the parties doing huge upfront investments in some of the projects, but if we learned something from OSS and, most importantly, Linux is that gradual and tiny improvements over 30 years can compound to a behemoth that eats any commercial solution for lunch.
It’s not at all clear how you are comparing Linux to its closed competitors, but frankly, if that’s the best example you can pick, I’d suggest copyright is largely winning that battle. Yes, Linux has probably “won” in some markets (servers/IoT being the obvious ones), but there are plenty of markets where that is not even close to being true.
Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#14If this (somehow) succeeds, could IBM sue Oracle over SQL compatibility?
Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#15I think it is quite likely that we as a society would be better off without any kind of copyright or IP. This might prevent some of the parties doing huge upfront investments in some of the projects, but if we learned something from OSS and, most importantly, Linux is that gradual and tiny improvements over 30 years can compound to a behemoth that eats any commercial solution for lunch.
It’s not at all clear how you are comparing Linux to its closed competitors, but frankly, if that’s the best example you can pick, I’d suggest copyright is largely winning that battle. Yes, Linux has probably “won” in some markets (servers/IoT being the obvious ones), but there are plenty of markets where that is not even close to being true.
> plenty
Actually, just one, the desktop.
In virtually every other market, Linux is either dominating or has a firm share.
Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not at all clear how you are comparing Linux to its closed competitors, but frankly, if that’s the best example you can pick, I’d suggest copyright is largely winning that battle. Yes, Linux has probably “won” in some markets (servers/IoT being the obvious ones), but there are plenty of markets where that is not even close to being true.
> plenty Actually, just one, the desktop. In virtually every other market, Linux is either dominating or has a firm share.
MS dominates the server side in corporations too.
Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#17I think it is quite likely that we as a society would be better off without any kind of copyright or IP. This might prevent some of the parties doing huge upfront investments in some of the projects, but if we learned something from OSS and, most importantly, Linux is that gradual and tiny improvements over 30 years can compound to a behemoth that eats any commercial solution for lunch.
I am not sure I agree with this statement in the absolute. I think about art, and artists as a musician myself.
One advantage of copyright is that it does, indeed, give artists recourse when people use their works without compensation. The photographer whose picture was copied and pasted onto an advertisement. The musician trying to sell their first album.
You could argue that litigation is too costly for an individual, which may be true, but this is one reason artists choose to sell their images via Getty. They gain access to a marketplace, and Getty handles licensing and enforcement, which makes it easier for artists to be fairly compensated for their work.
This isn’t absolute either: there is enforcement too aggressive (ask any Youtube creator), or limits too long (Disney).
But I cannot help but think that, with no copyright whatsoever, then the little guys will have a harder time protecting themselves from folks who would otherwise like to use that art without compensating the creator.
Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#18If this (somehow) succeeds, could IBM sue Oracle over SQL compatibility?
There are specific exceptions for compatibility. Android Java never tried to be compatible, various required APIs were replaced or are just flat out missing from the runtime library.
Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#19I think we would be better off, if we follow the pharmacy world. Like they have full controls over a new vaccine for x years and then it becomes generic! Problem is that technology space moves so fast that if x year term is say 5-10 years , that would nullify entire process!
Re: Google and Oracle's decade-long copyright battle reaches Supreme Court
#20> Those in Oracle's camp say if its copyright is not protected, that will discourage innovation. Look at the way YouTube Content ID encourages innovation and then imagine GitHub Content ID. “Your repository contains 3 copyrighted method calls. You’ve been issued a copyright strike.” I’d love to see every open source repo on the internet go private for 1 day as a demonstration of what could be lost if copyright is all…
Then imagine the outrage from European companies and users getting hit by this ludicrous US copyright thing that doesn't apply to them (the European court rejected oracle claims long ago).