Part 1: Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc. (2021) Majority Opinion (API Copyright, Fair Use, Java)

Audio of parts I, II, and III of the opinion of the Supreme Court in Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc. (2021).

Google created the programming language for its Android Operating System based on Java, an Application Programming Interface (API) owned by Oracle. So, Oracle sued Google for copyright infringement. A federal district judge held that programming languages are so essential to the progress of science and useful arts that APIs are not subject to copyright law because, if they were, it would stifle innovation and collaboration, which are both essential to the very purpose of copyright. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed that district court ruling, holding that APIs are copyrightable, but it stopped short of determining whether Google's use of was fair use. Upon remand back to the district court, a jury found that Google's use of the Java API was fair use. Oracle appealed, and the Federal Circuit again reversed the lower court. The Federal Circuit held that Google's use was not fair as a matter of law.

Today I'll be reading Google v. Oracle - a case in which the Supreme Court was asked whether copyright protection extends to a software interface and, if it does, whether the petitioner’s use of a software interface in the creation of a computer program constitutes fair use.

In order to decide as little as possible in the resolution of this case, the Court declined to answer the first question and, instead, proceeded under the assumption that software code is subject to copyright protection. In a 6-2 opinion, the Court decided that Google’s limited copying of the Java SE API indeed qualified as a fair use under copyright law.

 

Access this SCOTUS opinion and other essential case information on here on Oyez.

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