In the high-profile Oracle vs. Google case, Oracle was dealt a minor setback on Wednesday, May 9, as the federal judge refused to dismiss one of Google's key defenses against copyright infringement.
After a week of deliberation, the jury returned at the U.S. District Court of Northern California on Monday, with a mixed verdict. While the jury found that Google infringed upon the plaintiff's copyrights of 37 Java APIs (application programming interface) implemented on Android, the 12-member panel remained deadlocked on whether Google's use of Java APIs constituted "fair use."
Oracle then asked Judge William Alsup to make a "judgment as a matter of law," but the judge denied the request, arguing that Google's defense against Oracle's allegation was good enough to avoid such a decision. "I don't think it would be right to rule in favor of Oracle," said the judge. One of Google's key defenses against copyright infringement is the matter of "fair use," and as the jury failed to rule on this issue, the search giant filed a motion for mistrial.
What is Fair Use?
"The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined," explains the U.S. Copyright Office. "There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission."
Section 107 lists various purposes for which reproducing a particular work may be considered fair, and describes fair as consisting of four components: the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; the nature of the copyrighted work; the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyright work as a whole, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work.
Consequently, the fair use issue remains unresolved, and may be tossed into another trial. Judge Alsup still has a decision to make regarding Google's motion for a mistrial. The issue of whether APIs can be copyrighted in the first place remains unresolved as well, and the case may be appealed to a higher court.
The Oracle - Google legal battle is being closely watched, as the verdict could affect how the law treats APIs across the software industry. The high-profile case is Oracle v. Google, 10-3561, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
