Google-Oracle copyright fight is headed to the Supreme Court
Oracle previously asked for $8.8 billion in damages.
- Carrie has lived on both coasts and can definitively say that Chesapeake Bay blue crabs are the best.
The copyright dispute dates back to 2010.
The US Supreme Court on Friday said it would hear a multibillion-dollar copyright case between tech giants Google and Oracle that dates back to 2010.
A federal appeals court in 2018 determined that Google's use of Java software from Oracle went beyond the bounds of fair use. The ruling overturned one issued in Google's favor in 2016. Google appealed the case to the Supreme Court after the federal appeals court declined to rehear the case. Oracle had previously asked for $8.8 billion in damages.
Oracle sued Google in 2010 over copyright and patent infringement allegations for its use of the Java programming language in Android, now the world's most popular mobile operating system. Oracle obtained the rights to Java when it acquired Sun Microsystems.
Google has said that under fair-use laws it didn't need a license for the open-source software.
"We welcome the Supreme Court's decision to review the case and we hope that the Court reaffirms the importance of software interoperability in American competitiveness," said Kent Walker, Google's senior vice president of global affairs, in an emailed statement on Friday. "Developers should be able to create applications across platforms and not be locked into one company's software."
Oracle, however, says fair use is no way to describe how Google tapped into Java.
"We believe the Court will reject any reasoning that permits copying verbatim vast amounts of software code, used for the same purpose and same way as the original," said Oracle's Deborah Hellinger in an emailed statement Friday. "That is not 'transformative,' and certainly not fair use."
Originally published Nov. 15, 12:19 p.m. PT.
Update, 12:46 p.m.: Adds comment from Oracle.
