Supreme Court declines Google appeal in copyright case

The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear Google’s appeal of an ongoing dispute with Oracle over whether certain elements of the Java programming language can be copyrighted.

At the core of the case is a question of whether certain elements of software can be freely copied to make different systems work together.

{mosads}When Google was developing the Android smartphone operating system, it copied parts of Java so that Java software could work on its system. Application programming interfaces (API), as such technical elements are called, are used by many software developers to allow different systems to communicate with one another.

Oracle, which had bought the company that made Java, sued Google for using the API without permission — setting up the current legal battle.

With its decision Monday, the Supreme Court let a 2014 ruling in favor of Oracle stand and sent the case back to a lower court.

Google has argued that allowing the copyright protection over APIs will greatly hinder software development across the industry. They say that the API is a “functional characteristic” of the programming language and therefore shouldn’t be subject to copyright.

“We will continue to defend the interoperability that has fostered innovation and competition in the software industry,” said a Google representative on Monday.

Oracle painted the court’s decision as protecting, not hindering, innovation.

“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a win for innovation and for the technology industry that relies on copyright protection to fuel innovation,” said Oracle’s General Counsel Dorian Daley.

The case has divided the technology industry and the Obama administration, which was asked to weigh in on the case by the court.

The White House ultimately sided with Oracle, saying the case could be better adjudicated if it was returned to the lower courts.

“Although petitioner has raised important concerns about the effects that enforcing respondent’s copyright could have on software development, those concerns are better addressed through petitioner’s fair-use defense, which will be considered on remand,” the solicitor general’s filing in the case said.

The Obama administration has been an ally of Google in the past, but there were reportedly many in the administration who were skeptical of the technology firm’s arguments.

Others in the tech sector were supportive of Google’s case.

“The Federal Circuit’s decision poses a significant threat to the technology sector and to the public,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a brief submitted to the court and signed by computer scientists. “If it is allowed to stand, Oracle and others will have an unprecedented and dangerous power over the future of innovation.”