This is the fourth submission for the developer-centered organization and second to the Supreme Court in defense of software interoperability.
Washington D.C., January 13th, 2020 — The Developers Alliance has announced its filing of an amicus brief in the case of Google v. Oracle which will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this year. This is the fourth brief filing of the Developers Alliance in this case on the question of whether software APIs are protected by copyright.
In the brief, the Developers Alliance describes how software interfaces are what makes interoperable software possible, and ultimately what makes the software industry the powerhouse of cross-industry innovation that it is. The brief also details developers’ clear and undisputed rights in the software they write, but how the APIs that connect programs and platforms have always been treated as free and open for all to use. Specifically, it states that an API call shouldn’t be a point of control, giving monopoly power to whoever wrote it first.
From the brief:
“An independent application developer who wishes to write code that interoperates with the Java or Android platform necessarily must use the Java or Android API declarations. An independent platform developer who wishes to interoperate with Java or Android applications necessarily must re-use the Java or Android API declarations.”
In February of 2019, the Developers Alliance submitted an amicus brief, the organization’s third in this case, to the Supreme Court. That brief detailed early 2019 research where the developer community was polled regarding the potential outcome of the long-running dispute. The survey found that 91% of developers were concerned that the March 2018 Oracle-favoring ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit would result in higher development costs that threatened their company’s continued operation.
“The use and re-use of computer code is foundational to the nature of the software development industry and has been since its inception,” said Bruce Gustafson, CEO and President of the Developers Alliance. “To award copyright protection in a software interface to a single author is inconsistent with both copyright law, established industry practice, and wise public policy.”
The full brief is available for download here.
The official SCOTUS docket can be found here.
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About The Developers Alliance
The Developers Alliance is the world’s leading advocate for software developers and the companies invested in their success. Alliance members include industry leaders in consumer, enterprise, industrial, and emerging software development, and a global network of more than 70,000 developers.
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