Consider this example:

    package p1; public class A { void m() { System.out.println("A.m"); } }

    package p2; public class B extends p1.A { } // different package

    package p1; public class C extends p2.B {
        @Override public void m() { System.out.println("C.m"); }
        public static void main(String[] args) { ( (A) new C() ).m(); }
    }

Compile and run it:

    % javac -sourcepath . p1/*.java p2/*.java
    % java -classpath . p1.C
    C.m

Printout "C.m" is expected and correct because C.m overrides A.m from C. This case is covered by JLS 8.4.8.1. Overriding (by Instance Methods):

> * mA is declared with package access in the same package as C, and either C declares mC or mA is a member of the direct superclass type of C.

Indeed, while C declares mC (here m), mA (here m) is not a member of the direct superclass type of C (here B) because A.m has package access in p1, which is different from p2, where B is declared.

However, when examined programmatically, using javax.lang.model, the call below incorrectly returns false; pseudocode:

    Elements.overrides(C.m, A.m, C) == false