High Court Sides with Google in Copyright Fight with Oracle
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court sided Monday with Google in an $8 billion copyright dispute with Oracle over the internet company's creation of the Android operating system used on most smartphones worldwide.
To create Android, which was released in 2007, Google wrote millions of lines of new computer code. But it also used 11,330 lines of code and an organization that's part of Oracle's Java platform. Google had argued that what it did is long-settled, common practice in the industry, a practice that has been good for technical progress. And it said there is no copyright protection for the purely functional, noncreative computer code it used, something that couldn't be written another way. But Oracle said Google "committed an egregious act of plagiarism," and it sued. The justices ruled 6-2 for Google Inc., based in Mountain View, California. Two conservative justices dissented.Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, center, prepares for a sentencing hearing in state district court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 15, 2024. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool) FILE - A musician plays a violin behind a photograph of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a vigil in her honor in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Oct. 23, 2021.
Performers take part in the final dress rehearsal of the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 15, 2024. Actress Mary Mina, playing a priestess, hands an olive branch to the first torch bearer, Greek olympic gold medalist Stefanos Douskos, during the final dress rehearsal of the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 15, 2024. Actress Mary Mina, playing a priestess, lights the flame during the final dress rehearsal of the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 15, 2024. Performers take part in the final dress rehearsal of the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 15, 2024.
FILE - Canada's Chloe Dufour-Lapointe competes in a World Cup freestyle moguls competition at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, on Jan. 14, 2022. A scoreboard at the University of Utah promotes Salt Lake City's bid to host another Winter Olympics in 2034 as International Olympic Committee members prepare to tour the stadium and other venues April 10, 2024, in Salt Lake City. The 2002 Winter Olympic rings are shown outside Rice-Eccles Stadium, April 10, 2024, in Salt Lake City.