[bborud]

I don't agree with your argument.

I agree that designing good APIs requires a great deal of work, but Sun/Oracle were not alone in doing this work. In fact, they had considerable help from community, competitors and customers.

Java APIs are to a great degree a collaborative effort and it isn't right that Oracle should be the sole benefactor of this uncompensated work that has only made their product more valuable.

If this is true for these particular APIs isn't very relevant in my view. What is relevant is that the Java platform as a whole has gained much from its community. Without the Java platform the APIs would hardly have any relevance at all.

[alok-g]

What you are questioning then is not that whether APIs should be copyrightable or not, but rather whether Oracle solely should have a copyright over the Java APIs.

[bborud]

I am saying that if they want to claim ownership of something they can’t pretend the Java community didn’t contribute significantly to the development of the Java APIs.

If you are asking for my opinion: extorting those who use your API is always a poor long term business decision because it proves ill faith and undermines trust.

Oracle already has a problem with corporations making a conscious effort to move away from their database platforms.