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posted by martyb on Monday April 05 2021, @06:48PM   Printer-friendly

We had two Soylentils write in with this breaking news. See other reports at Ars Technica, BBC, and c|net.

Supreme Court rules in Google's favor in copyright dispute with Oracle

Supreme Court rules in Google's favor in copyright dispute with Oracle over Android software:

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with Google against Oracle in a long-running copyright dispute over the software used in Android, the mobile operating system.

The court's decision was 6-2. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not yet confirmed by the Senate when the case was argued in October, did not participate in the case.

The case concerned about 12,000 lines of code that Google used to build Android that were copied from the Java application programming interface developed by Sun Microsystems, which Oracle acquired in 2010. It was seen as a landmark dispute over what types of computer code are protected under American copyright law.

Oracle had claimed at points to be owed as much as $9 billion, while Google claimed that its use of the code was covered under the doctrine of fair use and therefore not subject to copyright liability. Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the world.

See also:
Supreme Court hands Google a victory in a multibillion-dollar case against Oracle

In addition to resolving a multibillion-dollar dispute between the tech titans, the ruling helps affirm a longstanding practice in software development. But the Court declined to weigh in on the broader question of whether APIs are copyrightable.

Justices wary of upending tech industry in Google v. Oracle Supreme Court fight

Several of the other justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, suggested they were sympathetic to Oracle's copyright claims.

Still, they appeared reluctant to rule in Oracle's favor because of arguments made by leading computer scientists and Microsoft, in friend-of-the-court briefs, that doing so could upend the industry.

GOOGLE LLC v. ORACLE AMERICA, INC.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/18-956_d18f.pdf

Held: Google's copying of the Java SE API, which included only those lines of code that were needed to allow programmers to put their accrued talents to work in a new and transformative program, was a fair use of that material as a matter of law. Pp. 11–36.


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 05 2021, @07:14PM (5 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 05 2021, @07:14PM (#1133569) Journal

    Several of the other justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, suggested they were sympathetic to Oracle’s copyright claims.

    If Oracle needs or wants sympathy, they can put some music on.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRXGsPBUV5g [youtube.com]

    Copyright, trademark, and even patents, if not defended, roll into public domain. Sun gave tacit and explicit approval to almost any use of Java. They wanted to see it used. They gave tacit approval, if not explicit, to the use of Java in Android. The "rights" that Oracle was looking for just weren't there when they bought it up.

    Maybe the devil has sympathy for those assholes, I don't.

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by DannyB on Monday April 05 2021, @07:24PM (3 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 05 2021, @07:24PM (#1133575) Journal

    Copyright, trademark, and even patents, if not defended, roll into public domain.

    I believe that is only true for Trademarks. If you don't enforce trademarks, people begin using them like ordinary words (kleenex, band-aid, nylon, aspirin), and your mark becomes unenforceable. Which is not quite the same thing as "public domain". The trade mark for "google" in this situation, if not already well past the unenforceable part.

    See my post above where IBM's Apache Harmony is what Google used for Android, not Sun's Java. Since not a single line of Sun's Java was used in Android, Oracle had to morph their case to be about APIs.

    Language warning . . .


    You have been warned . . .

    ORACLE - One Rich A**hole Called Larry Ellison
    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 05 2021, @08:18PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 05 2021, @08:18PM (#1133607)

      Re your sig:

      “ It is now safe to turn off your computer." -- HAL 9000

      In space, HAL9000 turns off YOU!

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 05 2021, @09:57PM (1 child)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 05 2021, @09:57PM (#1133646) Journal

        I thought that only happened in Soviet Russia.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 05 2021, @10:34PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 05 2021, @10:34PM (#1133655)
          Soviet Russia doesn’t expect any more, and Putins Russia is probably worse than soviet Russia. Ranks right down there with China and North Korea.
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Fnord666 on Monday April 05 2021, @07:39PM

    by Fnord666 (652) on Monday April 05 2021, @07:39PM (#1133586) Homepage

    Several of the other justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, suggested they were sympathetic to Oracle’s copyright claims.

    If Oracle needs or wants sympathy, they can put some music on.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRXGsPBUV5g [youtube.com]

    Copyright, trademark, and even patents, if not defended, roll into public domain. Sun gave tacit and explicit approval to almost any use of Java. They wanted to see it used. They gave tacit approval, if not explicit, to the use of Java in Android. The "rights" that Oracle was looking for just weren't there when they bought it up.

    Maybe the devil has sympathy for those assholes, I don't.

    If Oracle wants sympathy, they can find it in the dictionary between shit and syphylis.