Interesting. Thanks. Similar issues here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Dev._Corp._v._Borland_Int%27l,_Inc.
I remember that one well. Would seem to say that the interface is not protectable, only the implementation thereof. No national precedent because SCOTUS did not really rule. Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Timothy Sipples Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2020 10:18 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: LzLabs Shmuel Metz wrote: >Google for "look and feel lawsuit". It's illegal to run >z/OS on an unlicensed platform; it is perfectly legal to >implement the z/OS interfaces that you need. How well, >e.g., UNICICS, runs is a separate issue. Let's leave aside the "edge cases" involving laws in certain sanctioned countries. It isn't actually a settled issue in the United States; it's a very live issue. The upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case, Google v. Oracle America, significantly bears on the U.S. legality of reimplementing somebody else's APIs. See this article for background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_v._Oracle_America IBM filed an amicus brief supporting Google's position. Google won two jury trials, but the U.S. Federal Circuit Court overturned both verdicts. In November, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Google's appeal. The Supreme Court had to postpone the March, 2020, oral arguments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the case is still pending. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
