[kwlug-disc] This sounds scary? no more GPL?

[Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account)]

> On Jun 9, 2016, at 1:04 PM, Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com> wrote:
> There are two different use cases for using an API: 1) I write
> software that uses your services, so my software contains calls to
> your software using your API; 2) I write software that emulates your
> software, so my software contains implementations of your API so that
> others can replace your software with my software.  I'm not sure which
> use case Oracle objected to.
> 
> The second case is a little more subtle, but also contrary to common
> sense. It's entirely possible Oracle objects to Sun having made the
> Java source code freely available, but once that cat is out of the bag
> you can't put it back in. So here they are trying to say "Yes, you can
> implement a Java engine, but you can't copy the API", effectively
> making that code non-free again. It is certainly not what the original
> Sun developers intended by making the source available.

I wonder if this second case (being able to emulate an API to a closed source library) falls under Fair Dealings or Fair Use laws. e.g. ProprietaryLib.so is no longer maintained/available on a platform so you write AlternativeLib.so to allow some software package to continue to function.

-A.

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