A ruling could also go along the line that Sun / Oracle might have a copyright to the API but Google was free to use them.
In any case I guess we will see appeals from either side.
The author mixed in C# and VB in Mono - while MS has in the past applied and received patents on their APIs they have explicitly provided this use. This might be the way forward - company who created those APIs keeps control but let everyone use them.
Nevertheless, IMHO if I provide a solution like the Java language into the public domain / license it under GNU, parts like APIs become elements of speech - otherwise the whole thing becomes rather philosophical (and solved far more than 100 years ago by Hegel - 100% information is not possible).
In any case I guess we will see appeals from either side.
The author mixed in C# and VB in Mono - while MS has in the past applied and received patents on their APIs they have explicitly provided this use. This might be the way forward - company who created those APIs keeps control but let everyone use them.
Nevertheless, IMHO if I provide a solution like the Java language into the public domain / license it under GNU, parts like APIs become elements of speech - otherwise the whole thing becomes rather philosophical (and solved far more than 100 years ago by Hegel - 100% information is not possible).