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ARTICLE · 12 APRIL 2021

Planet Of The APIs: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Google's Use Of Java APIs In Android Is Fair Use

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Today, Google's Android operating system is everywhere. About 70% of the world's mobile devices use Android.

CanadaIntellectual Property
Lawrence Veregin
Lawrence Veregin
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Today, Google's Android operating system is everywhere. About 70% of the world's mobile devices use Android. Phones, tablets, watches, smart TVs, home appliances and even some cars use Android. You may even be reading this article on an Android device.

Fifteen years ago, Android was nowhere. In order to become a successful operating system, Google needed software developers to commit to developing applications for Android. For a mobile operating system, the support of third party developers is a matter of life and death, as both the living (iOS and Android) and the dead (BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone) will agree.

Google entered talks with Oracle, the owner of the Java platform, to license its Java Application Programming Interface (API) for use in Android. At the time, Java was one of the most popular programming languages in the world. With such widespread familiarity, Google hoped that by using the Java API, it could entice Java software developers to become

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