Google Finally Wins Oracle Javascrip API Copyright Dispute

Google offices (unsplash)

JAKARTA - The United States Supreme Court (MA) has ruled that Google has the right to manage and develop its own software. The dispute was won by Google from a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Oracle.

MA stated that Google did not infringe the copyright against Oracle when it copied a piece of programming language to build its Android operating system. MA assesses Google's action of copying the application programming interface (API / Application Programming Interface) from Oracle Java SE is something that is reasonable.

Judge Stephen Breyer said the concept of copyright in the context of software programming was difficult to implement. He said that Google only copied the parts needed to enable users to work on new and transformative programs.

Oracle and Google, are two technology giants based in California, USA. The two have been at odds since Oracle sued for copyright in 2010 in federal court in San Francisco.

Google has appealed a 2018 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington that revived the suit.

"The Court's opinion is a victory for consumers, interoperability and computer science. The decision provides legal certainty to the next generation of developers whose new products and services will benefit consumers," Google said after the court ruling, as quoted by Reuters, Tuesday, April 6.

With this ruling, it frees Google from a lawsuit that has the potential to cause massive losses. Given that Oracle is suing Google to pay compensation of more than 9 billion US dollars or around Rp130.6 trillion for copyright infringement.

"Google's platform is getting bigger and market power is getting bigger. Barriers to entry are higher and ability to compete is lower. This behavior is why regulatory authorities around the world and in the United States are examining Google's business practices," said Oracle.