Once the die was cast (i.e. after oral arguments) in Google v. Oracle, I don’t think I was alone in feeling that if the Supreme Court held that the computer code at issue in this case was not properly a subject of copyright protection, that would be an acceptably narrow decision, even though many might disagree with it as a ...

Google and its supporting amici rely substantially on painting a landscape of a contemporary software industry that is highly dependent on what they describe as “reimplementation” of certain types of computer code. Specifically, Google maintains, that the “declaring code” they copied for the production of the Android platform is so exemplary of standard practice that Oracle’s claim of infringement threatens ...

As proceedings in Google v. Oracle were delayed by the coronavirus, I also paused writing about the case, but now that oral arguments are scheduled for October 7, this topic will return to the headlines in copyright and tech news. During the break, I had the opportunity to review all the briefs filed in this case, and as a general ...

Although it has been my intention to write about Google v. Oracle serially, addressing the legal questions in more or less in the order they are presented and weighed in a court opinion, it turns out today marks the end of Fair Use Week.  (How I could have missed that in this otherwise sleepy news cycle is a mystery, I ...

Looking at Google v. Oracle as a consumer and citizen, common sense insists upon a measure of skepticism in response to the premise that the “future of all software development” depends on Google prevailing in this case.  Many of those who say so are the same folks who tend to omit the fact that licensing—especially in B2B relationships—spawns innovation all the time.  The underlying ...

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