Supreme Court sides with Google in Oracle’s API copyright case
The Supreme Court found that Google could legally use elements of Oracle’s Java application programming interface (API) code when building Android.
The Supreme Court, in it’s ruling overturning a federal decision said, “Google’s copying of the API to reimplement a user interface, taking only what was needed to allow users to put their accrued talents to work in a new and transformative program, constituted a fair use of that material.”
The court’s opinion concludes are significantly different from other kinds of computer programs and hence, Google would not be infringing on any rights. Unlike many other computer programs much of the copied lines’ value came from developers being invested in the ecosystem, rather than the actual operations of the program, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in his opionion. Google used the API to let Java programmers build Android apps, which the court declared is a fundamentally transformative use.
“Google copied only what was needed to allow programmers to work in a different computing environment without discarding a portion of a familiar programming language. Google’s purpose was to create a different task-related system for a different computing environment (smartphones) and to create a platform – the Android platform – that would help achieve and popularize that objective.”
The decision is meant to be specifically focused on APIs as a category. The ruling hinges largely on the ways that API code enables new creative expression, something fair use doctrine is supposed to promote.