Description
Chair:
David Chaplin, SCL Editor
Speaker:
Chris Kemp, Senior Associate, Kemp IT Law
2021 has been a huge year for APIs – the technical rules for how separate software applications interact – and software copyright.
The subject has graced the US Supreme Court twice this year. In April, the Court handed down a long-awaited opinion in Google v Oracle, settling a decade-long API copyright dispute between two tech giants. In January, the Court rejected a certiorari petition in World Programming v SAS Institute, another long-running, if less well known interface copyright litigation.
2021 has also been a big year for interface copyright this side of the Pond, though rather more symbolically: in May, the first Software Directive – the instrument setting the terms of software copyright in the EU and the UK – celebrated its thirtieth birthday.
All the while, the importance of APIs has been ballooning. API calls are now said to account for over 80% of all internet traffic.
This webinar:
- Sets the scene and provides practical examples of popular APIs.
- Picks out some interesting features of the Google v Oracle and World Programming v SAS Institute cases.
- Compares the US approach with the EU and UK positions, and finds that the traditional regional fault lines are still alive and kicking.
Speaker’s Details:
Chris is an experienced technology lawyer with a focus on software and AI. He “stands out for his involvement in AI projects” and is “technically very strong”. He is a “really nice person too”. (Legal 500 (2022))
Chris is keenly interested APIs and the boundaries of software copyright. He regularly writes on this topic and other areas of technology and law, and has been published in Politico, Practical Law and – of course – Computers and Law, the SCL’s house magazine.
Chris also regularly speaks on technology law subjects at industry events.
