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  • From: Primah Kwagala <kwagalap AT gmail.com>
  • To: "ccafrica AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ccafrica AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ccAfrica] Fwd: Taking a photo against a white background? Amazon owns the patent on that
  • Date: Sat, 10 May 2014 15:00:11 +0300



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Javie Ssozi <ssozi.javie AT gmail.com>
Date: Sat, May 10, 2014 at 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: Taking a photo against a white background? Amazon owns the patent on that
To: cc-uganda AT googlegroups.com


And while we are still dwelling on "photo against white background", Application Programming Interface (API) is at stake!

In the latest chapter of an ongoing legal battle, a U.S. appeals court has just ruled that Oracle can be granted copyright protection for its Java APIs in a battle with Google over Android's inclusion of the code. As reported by ZDNet colleague Zack Whittaker, the case dates back to 2010, when Oracle took Google to court alleging that Google had violated Oracle's Java copyright with the inclusion of 37 Java APIs within its Android mobile OS. The court ruled in May 2012 that the structure of the Java APIs were not copyrightable. The appellate court just reversed that ruling.

Photo: Joe McKendrick

What does it mean if APIs can be copyrighted? Will this have a chilling effect on the burgeoning API economy, and the flexibility of developers and enterprises to build and connect their digital ventures? Or will it afford developers some protection over the fruits of their labors?

The stakes are potentially high. As fellow ZDNet contributor Stilgherrian recently pointed out, the only businesses that can compete from this point going forward are those that leverage APIs for back-end services and digital capabilities.

SHOULD API BE COPYRIGHTED?

Read full article here: http://www.news-republic.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=3&articleid=22830630

Javie


On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 9:35 AM, Primah Kwagala <kwagalap AT gmail.com> wrote:
Not sure about the credibility of this site but i thought it was crazy--


Taking a photo against a white background? Amazon owns the patent on that

By Nick Stockton @StocktonSays May 8, 2014
Is no color safe? Reuters/Gus Ruelas
 

Today a photography blog unearthed another strange development in America’s ongoing patent train wreck: Amazon was recently awarded the intellectual rights to taking pictures of people in front of seamless white backgrounds.

Critics of the deal from the tech and photography worlds are split on what they see as the bigger affront: the gullibility of the US Patent and Trade Office, or the genius of Amazon’s patent lawyers.

The patent, which you can read here, was originally filed in 2011, and has the fittingly sparse title, “Studio Arrangement.” It takes five pages of dense text to explain the photographic innovation at issue. There is a diagram that, TechDirt points out, “pretty much looks like every photo studio in the history of photo studios.”

The Amazon technique is illustrated in their patent filing with this flowchart:

Get the picture? Amazon

As photography writer Udi Tarosh pointed out on the blog DIY Photography, this method is not exactly new. TechDirt summarizes it thusly:

1. Turn back lights on.
2. Turn front lights on.
3. Position thing on platform.
4. Take picture.

As TechDirt explains, this filing is unlikely to result in any serious disruptions for the photography industry, because the specifications listed are easy to work around and almost impossible to enforce.

The US patent system makes it quite easy for people to lay claim to intuitive, easy processes, which so-called “patent trolls” have used to throw wrenches into the cogs of actual innovation (an issue that some in the US Senate are trying to address). However, as TechDirt writer Tim Cushing points out, it’s unlikely that Amazon is actually going to go this route. Instead, he thinks, they just want the credit for dreaming it up.


--
Primah kwagala
Centre for Health Human Rights and Development *(CEHURD)
kwagalap AT gmail.com
0774207358
"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for "
Kofi Annan



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--
Javie Ssozi
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--
Primah kwagala
Centre for Health Human Rights and Development *(CEHURD)
kwagalap AT gmail.com
0774207358
"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for "
Kofi Annan





  • [ccAfrica] Fwd: Taking a photo against a white background? Amazon owns the patent on that, Primah Kwagala, 05/10/2014

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