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ARTICLE · 23 OCTOBER 2020

SCOTUS Grants Google's Cert Petition In Oracle API Dispute

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani
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On November 15, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Google v. Oracle, indicating potential resolution on the contentious litigation that has been dubbed Silicon Valley's "Lawsuit of the Decade.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Mary E. Csarny
Mary E. Csarny

On November 15, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Google v. Oracle, indicating potential resolution on the contentious litigation that has been dubbed Silicon Valley's "Lawsuit of the Decade."1 On January 6, 2019, Google filed its Petitioner Brief, with Respondent Oracle's brief due next month.

Background

As followers of this litigation will recall, Oracle sued Google in 2010, alleging Google's use of the Java programing language and declarations (specifically 37 Java APIs) in building the Android platform amounted to copyright and patent infringement.2 A victory for Oracle would not only result in significant damages for unpaid royalties, but also impact the future of API use. At the District Court, a jury determined Google did infringe the copyright as to the compilable code for the 37 Java API packages, and then deadlocked on the issue of whether the use constituted fair use. The jury found no copyright infringement as to the documentation for the Java

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