Google v. Oracle: U.S. Supreme Court finds for Google

[Portreve]

Legal Eagle / YouTube: Google v. Oracle shorts

I'm glad to see the Fair Use Doctrine was upheld here.

[karlchen]

I'm glad to see the Fair Use Doctrine was upheld here.

OK. I think I do undersand this aspect of the law suit.
Apart from that and with respect to the 2 opponents: Whenever two cutthroats drag each other in court, I will sympathize with neither of the two.

[motoryzen]

I'm glad to see the Fair Use Doctrine was upheld here.

OK. I think I do undersand this aspect of the law suit.
Apart from that and with respect to the 2 opponents: Whenever two cutthroats drag each other in court, I will sympathize with neither of the two.

*Uses Jose Jalapeno accent from Jeff Dunham show*

" siiiiii I toss a random loophole law in the pit ..and watch them fiiiiight to the deeeeeeeath "

xD

[Portreve]

I'm glad to see the Fair Use Doctrine was upheld here.

OK. I think I do undersand this aspect of the law suit.
Apart from that and with respect to the 2 opponents: Whenever two cutthroats drag each other in court, I will sympathize with neither of the two.

It's not so much a matter of cheering for Google: given all the regular efforts to either destroy or neuter Fair Use beyond all recognition. I will champion any Court case — and especially one coming out of the pinnacle of our legal system — which serves to strengthen it and/or use cases of it.

Many companies in the U.S., especially but not exclusively those in the entertainment industry, have routinely tried to sabotage it. This, coupled with allowing for software patents, needs to be fought against.

[DAMIEN1307]

*Uses Jose Jalapeno accent from Jeff Dunham show*

Jose jalapeno,...On a Stick, ("Steek")...lol...DAMIEN

[jjp2145-oldtimer]

That decision makes me want to go out and "fair use" everyone's libraries before Google gets legislation passed to close the "loop-hole" that it created.

Here's the slip decision for anyone who wants to read it https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/2 ... 6_d18f.pdf.

The problem is that copyright law is a poor fit for code. "Copyright, n. 1. The right to copy; specif., a property right in an original work of authorship (including literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and architectural works; motion pictures and other audiovisual works; and sound recordings) fixed in any tangible medium of expression, giving the holder the exclusive right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, perform, and display the work..." Black's Law Dictionary 8th Edition.

Forgive the long quote, but it was necessary to make my point. When legislative bodies and courts think of copyright law, they are thinking of creative works. Or as Justin Thomas said in dissent "Computer code occupies a unique space in intellectual property. Copyright law generally protects works of authorship. Patent law generally protects inventions or discoveries. A library of code straddles these two categories. It is highly functional like an invention; yet as a writing, it is also a work of authorship. Faced with something that could fit in either space, Congress chose copyright, and it included declaring code in that protection." Slip op. at 47.

Another long quote, but I have no idea who I am talking to. Most news coverage is garbage at the best of times.

In case you missed it, there was a jury trial in this case. The jury was asked to find as fact that Google's use of the code constituted fair use and they did so. Fair use is a mixed question of fact and law. Slip op. at 19. You know what that means? It means long trials and long appeals. Litigating these issues will become extremely expensive and take years to work out. And you have to win in the trial court and in at least one appellate court to win.

[dorsetUK]

Fair use is a long established legal 'thing' in many countries.

From the link https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/2 ... 6_d18f.pdf

... Google copied approximately 11,500 lines of declaring code from the API, which amounts to virtually all the declaring code needed to call up hundreds of different tasks. Those 11,500 lines, however, are only 0.4 percent of the entire API at issue ...

Fair?

Yep.

[Portreve]

Having read the SCOTUS decision, at least it wasn't written at the level of “The Internet is like a series of tubes¹”.

I think both sides "get" the situation; however, it seems to me that even if the Java environment itself is copyrightable, the programming language (i.e. programmer's user interface) should not be, based on the language of the foundational U.S. statutes.

---

¹ U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, 17 July 2006.