E-Commerce Times Discusses Oracle's Java Battle with Partner Peter Vogel

E-Commerce Times spoke with Gardere Partner Peter S. Vogel, chair of the Firm's Internet, eCommerce and Technology Industry Team, about Oracle's ongoing legal battle with Google over Java. The copyright violation and patent infringement case played out in a multiphase trial last summer, with the court holding that even though Google did incorporate Oracle's Java language in 37 APIs, the programming APIs could not be copyrighted. Oracle has now appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

An excerpt can be viewed below:

A Losing Argument

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Prior cases support Alsup's reasoning, noted Peter S. Vogel, partner with Gardere Wynne Sewell.

Decades ago, Apple licensed to Microsoft the graphical user interface it used to create the first version of Windows. When Microsoft developed subsequent versions of Windows, Apple sued it for copyright infringement.

"Ultimately the court ruled that the graphical user interface was in public domain and could not be copyrighted," Vogel said.

Also, in the Microsoft antitrust litigation in the 1990s, one of the rulings was that Microsoft had to make its API available to anyone, he pointed out.

The complete article can be accessed here.