Google v. Oracle: Consequences of the Case

On March 24, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Google v. Oracle, which is expected to bring the long-running copyright infringement case to its final resolution. Ahead of the arguments in the nation’s highest court, join Hudson Institute for a discussion on how we got to this point and why this will be the most important copyright case heard by the Supreme Court in decades.

In 2010, Oracle sued Google for copyright infringement alleging it copied more than 11,000 lines of Oracle’s software code, known as Application Programming Interface (API), that allows Java to interface with other software in high-tech devices. Google argued that API code is “functional” and thus unprotectable under longstanding copyright law and that its copying of the API code is “fair use,” a defense to copyright infringement allowed in the copyright statute.

After a lengthy litigation and appeals process, Google eventually lost both arguments and filed for certiorari, a decision to review a lower court’s ruling, with the Supreme Court. The court granted Google certiorari on the questions of whether copyright protection covers a software interface and if copying a software interface in creating a new software program constitutes “fair use.”

Tim Wilson of SAS Institute, a leading U.S. software company, will discuss Google v. Oracle from the industry’s perspective and weigh in on its implications for the future of software development.

This event is open to the press. All members of the media should RSVP to press@hudson.org.