Is Google using ‘fair use’ as an excuse?
Yesterday, a jury in a California District Federal court threw out Oracle’s claim that Google abused the use of their copyright of their code. The judge declared that the search giant’s use of the code in Android was fair use, which completely freed the tech giant of any liability whatsoever.
Oracle originally filed a lawsuit against Google way back in 2010 claiming that they integrated key elements from their application and incorporated these features into Android. The battle has been going on ever since, and Oracle was seeking just short of $9 billion for the use of their code.
In 2014, a federal appeals court determined that Oracle may have a viable copyright claim on the API code. But, the courts have sided with search engine giant after their convincing excuse of ‘fair use’, ultimately allowing use of the code without invalidating Oracle’s copyright.
Although this is an obvious win for the tech giant, the ruling has been heavily criticised for creating a ‘chilling effect’ for developers.
In a statement, Robert Van Nest Google’s lead lawyer said, ”we’re grateful for the jury’s verdict.”
A Google spokesperson added…
“Today’s verdict that Android makes fair use of Java APIs represents a win for the Android ecosystem, for the Java programming community, and for software developers who rely on open and free programming languages to build innovative consumer products.”
Though comments from Oracle were very much opposing, as Dorian Daley, Oracle’s general counsel said….
”We strongly believe that Google developed Android by illegally copying core Java technology to rush into the mobile device market. Oracle brought this lawsuit to put a stop to Google’s illegal behavior. We believe there are numerous grounds for appeal and we plan to bring this case back to the Federal Circuit on appeal.”
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