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Android Is 'Fair Use' As Google Beats Oracle In $9 Billion Lawsuit (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the jury-duty dept.

infernalC writes: Ars Technica is reporting that the verdict is in, and that the jury decided that Google's duplication of several Java interfaces is fair use. Ars Technica writes that Google's Android OS does not infringe upon Oracle-owned copyrights because its re-implementation of 37 Java APIs is protected by "fair use." The jury unanimously answered "yes" in response to whether or not Google's use of Java APIs was a "fair use" under copyright law. The trial is now over, since Google won. "Google's win somewhat softens the blow to software developers who previously thought programming language APIs were free to use," Ars Technica writes. "It's still the case that APIs can be protected by copyright under the law of at least one appeals court. However, the first high-profile attempt to control APIs with copyright law has now been stymied by a "fair use" defense." The amount Oracle may have asked for in damages could have been as much as $9 billion.

5 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. Thank Jesus... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sometimes, juries do the right/sane thing.

    Now PLEASE, supreme court, et al, don't let this warm feeling go away by overturning this.

    1. Re:Thank Jesus... by catchblue22 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Larry Ellison is a selfish hypocritical right wing fuck who was willing to wreck the entire software industry for his own personal gain.

      --
      This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
  2. The trial is now over, by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Informative

    The trial is now over,

    Oracle has threatened to appeal (because of the way the instructions to the jury were phrased), and in fact has filed a motion for JOML, which would overturn the jury's decision (basically they asked the judge to evaluate the evidence and determine whether a non-descript 'reasonable' jury would find it fair use).

    So expect this to last for the rest of the year at least.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  3. 11,500 lines of code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I copied 1 line of subjects. It's undisputed. I took your subject, I copied it, and put it right into my post.

  4. The fair use argument is clear by infernalC · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are four factors to consider when determining if the copying is "fair use":

    1. Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.

    Google's use of the Java interfaces is to educate other pieces of code about what the implementation does. Interfaces are essentially documentative in nature, not creative...

    2. Nature of the copyrighted work

    Interfaces are not very creative. All they really do is document the input and output of an implementation. The implementation is where the creativity of the work is expressed.

    3. Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole

    I bet the interfaces are less than 3% of the code base. If not, we have an over-architected language on our hands here..

    4. Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

    Oracle didn't lose a dime over this until they started paying lawyers to sue Google. If anything, Google's use of the Java interfaces made Java more valuable, because it brought more developers into the Java fold.

    This comment shamelessly copies content from http://www.copyright.gov/fair-... ... a work of the United States Government not subject to copyright protection.