Historic event that set a precedent in the history of technology, the Supreme Court of the United States of America, gave the victory to Google claiming that they did not infringe copyright offenses against Oracle by copying fragments from programming to build their own Android operating system.
After a decade of legal disputes, the Court ruled with 6 votes in favor and 2 against that the main search engine (Google) is covered by “fair use” protections in the early days of the smartphone industry, when it was used by more than 11,000 lines of Oracle code to make their Android operating system compatible with Java software, which was in public use and was later acquired by Oracle.
Google spokespersons assured that the Court’s decision is a triumph for consumers, interoperability and computing because it will give more legal certainty to future generations of programmers.
For their part, Oracle through a press realease, reforced the idea that Google “stole” Java and used their economic dominance to permit a extended legal battle. However, members of the Court argued that allowing Oracle to enforce a copyright claim poses a risk to the public by establishing this company as a new guardian of software code that others wanted or could use.
Similarly, some developers argue that the case revealed the need for greater clarity on the legal status of interfaces, which are widely copied all over the industry. At the same time they warned that most companies cannot afford the cost and uncertainty of build a prolonged defense of “fair use”.
It is important to note that, with this decision, Google will avoid paying millionaire amounts of money and also lays down legal bases for the future of copyright and the use of software licenses.
