- Henry Park
Advantage Oracle
It has been a back and forth match between Google and Oracle over Google's use of Java APIs in Android.
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In 2012, a jury found that Google had infringed Oracle’s copyright by copying into Android the “structure, sequence and organization” of 37 Java APIs, but was deadlocked on whether Google's use of the APIs constituted a fair use. The district court overruled the jury as a matter of law and found that APIs were not eligible for copyright protection (see Oracle v. Google, 2018 opinion at 6).
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In 2014, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the District Court's decision and held that the APIs were eligible for copyright protection, and remanded the case for a trial on whether Google's use of the APIs constituted a fair use (see Oracle v. Google, 2018 opinion at 6).
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In 2016, a jury found that Google's use of the API was a fair use (see Oracle v. Google, 2018 opinion at 7).
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This week, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the District Court's conclusion that Google's use of the API was a fair use, and remanded the case for a damages determination (see Oracle v. Google, 2018 opinion at 7).
Even though both sides have two wins, it isn't a tie. Oracle has won where it mattered, on appeal. Thus, it finally is in a position to recover some money from Google's unlawful use of its Java APIs to create the Android mobile computing device operating system.
The Android robot is reproduced or modified from work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.