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Java-Android

For the by half-dozen years, Oracle has pursued copyright and patent infringement claims against Google over the use of Java APIs within Android. The example has bounced around through multiple courts — the patent bug were resolved with nada amercement, simply the copyright claims were dismissed in favor of Google before a federal court reversed that verdict. Over the last few weeks, Oracle and Google accept been tied upwardly in court over whether or not Google'south use of the Java API could be considered fair employ or not.

The trial has now concluded with a jury verdict in favor of Google, meaning that Google's specific use of APIs in Android is considered off-white use. Oracle, never formally declared how much coin information technology would seek from Google if the verdict had gone the other way, but an expert report prepared for the example claimed $9.3 billion in damages.

The fundamental issue of the trial was whether or non Google was legally required to license Java in lodge to use certain Java APIs — 37 in all — every bit part of Android. Google had initially argued that API'due south weren't copyrightable at all, since they represented functional lawmaking that's often critical to ensuring interoperability between organisation components. Over the grade of the trial, Google presented evidence showing that Sun, which created Java, had no problem with Google'southward using it in Android, including testimony from Sunday'due south ex-CEO, Jonathan Schwartz. Oracle concentrated on the idea that Google's employ of Android had crippled Oracle's ability to launch smartphones based on its own Java-based operating system, and that the search giant had unjustly enriched itself by not licensing Coffee.

Unfortunately, while this is a win for Google, information technology doesn't answer the question of when exactly using an API is or isn't fair use. The problem with fair use doctrine in the United States is that infringement is often in the eye of the beholder. Fair employ is determined past the purpose and character of the utilise, including whether or not the utilize is transformative (parody and satire are typically establish to be transformative). Fair use is likewise measured according to the nature of the original piece of work, how much of the copyrighted work has been excerpted and used, and whether or non the use of the material impacts the power of the original creator to turn a profit from their work. To use a simple case, 1 cannot infringe the vast bulk of fabric from 1 work, stuff information technology into a different book or motion-picture show, and claim that this is protected under fair use doctrine.

While these rules create a useful framework for evaluating fair use, they don't define how much of a piece of work tin can exist used for fair use to apply, or specify exact circumstances in which a usage is or is not fair. If Oracle had won its case against Google, it would accept gear up a unsafe precedent. While the 37 APIs that Google used are disquisitional to the overall role of Android, they represent a tiny fraction of Android's full code base.

Oracle has, of course, already vowed to appeal the verdict, which means this instance will still exist winding its way through the court system several years from at present. Google, meanwhile, is already planning to move away from Oracle'south Java and will utilize a new implementation based on OpenJDK.