From Mark Twain to Marvel Comics to Microsoft Windows, America has a rich history of fostering innovation and creativity with laws that have secured the fruits of labors of artists and creators. The Founders confirmed their dedication to protecting creativity by empowering Congress in the Constitution to secure copyrights (and patents). Founders like James Madison, James Monroe and others were in the First Congress when they enacted the Copyright Act of 1790.
Fast forward to today and the Supreme Court will hear arguments this year between two of the biggest tech giants in America - Oracle and Google - regarding Google’s theft of Oracle’s intellectual property. (The oral argument was originally scheduled for March 24, 2020, but it has been postponed until next fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.) No case better exemplifies the need to uphold America’s long tradition of protecting innovation and creativity than this case.
In his amicus brief supporting Oracle, the Solicitor General of the United States, Noel Francisco, writes that Google “copied 11,500 lines of computer code verbatim, as well as the complex structure and organization inherent in that code, to help its competing commercial product.”
Read the full article in The Federalist Society