"What I don't understand is how this can threaten the GPL?"
It can't and doesn't. The article is a bunch of rubbish.
"The GPL is a detailed legal document that lays out exactly what the user of
the licensed software agrees to. "copyright" is a more general category. Fair
use is a more general concept. The GPL is a specific license.
It is almost like saying, "today there was a court case that showed a certain
kind of contract is invalid...so now all contracts, of that kind or any other
kind, are in jeopardy!" Of course some contracts can be shown to be invalid
but that in no way implies that all other contracts need to worry."
It's not even that. It's more like: Not 100% of everything is covered under
copyright because there is a fair use exception that applies in some cases!
Oh no - This will kill the GPL! That is BS. Fair use has existed as an
exception to copyright for a very long time and the GPL has been and
continues to be enforced successfully. Nothing from the decision changes
this.
"In the case between Oracle and Google, my guess is that the copyright was
not elaborated on in the form of a detailed license that Google agreed to."
Of course there was no agreement. Oracle hadn't even bought Sun yet when
Android came out so there was no agreement to get made. There didn't even
need to be one though. Google made their own independent implementation of
Java. After Oracle bought Sun and got their grubby paws on Java, Oracle went
and and sued Google over that. That's stupid and it's good that Oracle lost.
People have been able to make independent implementations of stuff for years
without problems. Imagine if Stallman couldn't have started to make GNU
because following the same UNIX APIs and such would have meant he'd run afoul
of AT&T copyright. It's a stupid notion: No UNIX code has been used in GNU
and that is all that should matter. People should be able to make their own
independent implementations that interoperate. I think that Oracle is trying
this in an attempt to re-proprietarize Java. Fortunately it's not working.
Their attorneys seem to be sore losers though and post BS articles. Perhaps
it's an attempt to sway future jurors, since Oracle has said they will
appeal. I hope that they continue to lose on appeal too.
