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ARTICLE · 22 JUNE 2016

Oracle v. Google: Are Juries Equipped To Decide Fair Use?

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If you're in the high-tech industry and are sued for copyright infringement, there are two words you need to remember (in addition to the phone number of your attorney, of course)...

United StatesIntellectual Property
Robert Welsh
Robert Welsh
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If you're in the high-tech industry and are sued for copyright infringement, there are two words you need to remember (in addition to the phone number of your attorney, of course). Those two words are "fair use."

This week, we were once again reminded of the increasing willingness of courts – and now juries – to "excuse" otherwise infringing conduct because the defendant's use of the plaintiff's copyrighted work resulted in the creation of new works or advances not contemplated by the plaintiff/copyright owner. In Oracle v. Google, a San Francisco jury found that Google's unauthorized use of some 11,000 lines of Oracle's copyrighted Java open-source code in Google's Android mobile phone operating system was fair use.

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