Oracle wins copyright case against Google over Android

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington issued a ruling today that reversed an earlier decision that prohibited Oracle from claiming copyright for portions of its Java platform used by Google in Android, according to a report by Reuters.

Google had argued in the original trial that Oracle's Java wasn't protected by copyright for a number of reasons, including the ideas that the code isn't purely a creative expression; that it used short phrasing and that Google borrowed Java API code in order to maintain interoperability with Java. The initial court agreed.

Oracle accused Google of copying some of its Java computer code when it wrote Android. Android itself wasn't the issue. Android is different than Java. But Google wanted developers that work with Java, a popular language for Web apps, to jump to Android. So it incorporated Java's application programming interfaces (APIs) into Android. This allowed them to quickly convert their apps to Android and it meant that the millions of programmers trained on Java would be familiar with Android, too.

Oracle sued claiming that the APIs were copyrighted. But the judge ruled that APIs are not subject to copyright laws. On Friday, an appellate court just overturned that loss, and said that APIs are subject to copyright.

An API exists to allow two programs to talk to each other. Normally, APIs are freely given away. It's the tool that encourages developers to write apps for a tech company's products.

According to CNET, the US Court of Appeals decision (PDF) -- heard by a three-judge panel in Washington, DC, and written by Judge Kathleen O'Malley -- determined that District Judge William Alsup erred when ruling in favor of Google that APIs, which allow different software components to communicate with each other, were not copyrightable.

"...[W]e conclude that the declaring code and the structure, sequence, and organization of the API packages are entitled to copyright protection," O'Malley wrote.

In reversing the district court's decision, the appeals court instructed the lower court to reinstate the jury's infringement finding for 37 Java application programming interface packages.

"The Federal Circuit's opinion is a win for Oracle and the entire software industry that relies on copyright protection to fuel innovation and ensure that developers are rewarded for their breakthroughs," said Dorian Daley, general counsel for Oracle.

"We are confident that the district court will appropriately apply the fair use doctrine on remand, which is not intended to protect naked commercial exploitation of copyrighted material."

Google's official reaction was to sound a clarion call of concern.

"We're disappointed by this ruling, which sets a damaging precedent for computer science and software development, and are considering our options," Google said in a statement.