Does copyright apply to programming languages?

    After a year and a half of pre-trial proceedings, hundreds of documents examined involving 75 attorneys on both sides, Oracle and Google have come together face-to-face in the Northern California District Court to find out if programming languages ​​are subject to copyright protection.

    Such a cardinal statement was proposed by the judge himself. In a special request last week, the court ruled that Google and Oracle should firmly clarify their position on the fundamental question: "Are intellectual property laws applicable to programming languages." And the companies have already provided their answers. In particular, Google spoke clearly: “No, programming languages ​​are not subject to copyright protection. Google has always held that position. ”

    Google further explains that “a certain set of instructions can be protected, but the protection does not extend to the method of operations or the system — the programming language — through which these instructions are perceived by the computer.” Google believes that computer language is "an initially utilitarian, non-copyright protected way of computer operations."

    Under US intellectual property laws, the idea itself cannot be protected by copyright, but an original and creative way of expressingof this idea - maybe. Google takes the position that the programming language is an idea or a utilitarian tool, while the specific software created with its help is a creative expression of the idea.

    In its own response to the lawsuit, Oracle is expected to take the opposite position. The company believes that "a computer language can be protected by copyright if it is sufficiently original and creative." Although Oracle lawyers say that copyright cannot protect against the creation of similar programming languages ​​that perform the same function. But they believe that the "specific vocabulary and written expressions" of the language should be protected.

    Attempts by the parties to agree on pre-trial compensation were unsuccessful. So now everything is in the hands of the judge. The first hearing on this case will take place on Monday, April 16th .

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