Alphabet’s Google hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn a previous ruling that the company violated Oracle’s copyright. As the company uses Oracle’s software in its Android mobile operating system, the case could reshape the legal protection of software code.
It was filed with the court on Monday. In this document, Google mainly reiterated the company’s argument over the past 10 years: the company uses Oracle’s Java programming language, which makes Android and other software Communication become easier, and this should be legal. Google argues that if such practices are suppressed, it will limit further innovation in the computer industry.
When Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, it also acquired the Java programming language developed by the company. The company believes that Google used this language without a license. So Google should pay them at least $8.8 billion. Much of the success of Google’s business over the past 10 years has come from their ability to place their search engine and advertising business on Android, which runs on about a quarter of the world’s smartphones.
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The companies affected by this case are likely to be far more than just Google and Oracle. Many technology companies and startups need to use programming languages owned by other companies when writing new software. This is also the argument that Google asked the court to overturn the previous ruling.
Where The Roots Go To?
Google’s chief legal officer, Kent Walker, wrote in a blog post on Monday: ‘Oracle’s victory will disrupt the technology industry’s approach to software interfaces. This will be the first time that copyright owners have a monopoly power to prevent the emergence of new procedures.’
Oracle originally sued Google in 2010 for infringing its copyright. Since then, the US judicial system has been dealing with the case, triggering a total of two jury decisions and multiple appeals. In 2014, Google first asked the US Supreme Court to reopen the case. But the request was rejected by the court. After the Federal Court of Appeal announced Oracle’s victory, Google again appealed to the High Court, which agreed in November to accept the case. The court is scheduled to make oral arguments in March or April of this year and make a decision by the end of June.
