In Jack Nicas’s Wall Street Journal article, “Google Wins Java Copyright Case Against Oracle”, he explains that the software giant, Google, owned by Alphabet, Inc. prevailed in a lawsuit initiated by Oracle (Nicas). Oracle accused Google of copyright infringement because Google uses small parts of computer code called APIs in its Android Operating Systems (Nicas). The federal court ruled in favor of Google, citing “fair use” of already-copyrighted material (Nicas). This issue could have huge ramifications for the tech industry.
For example, by allowing Google to utilize parts of another company’s product, this sets a precedent in what is considered intellectual property. Thus, when a company brings a product to market, under “fair use”, they are not necessarily sole owners of their product – and another company’s use is not stealing. This policy allows other companies to borrow significant parts of intellectual property without being sued for copyright infringement (Nicas). This landmark decision decidedly makes something legal that was vague territory in the past. Because of this decision, tech giants may witness their “hold” on certain aspects of their intellectual property wither away.
This newer model of “fair use”, as defined by the court, could set an example for future industries across many sectors – not just software tech. Thus, sharing of intellectual “property” may become a more common model. Such sharing across platforms, i.e. APIs, could lead to mergers of companies into ever bigger companies. While Oracle contended that Google’s usage of its code was illegal, the court decided that such sharing is legal, a decision that could also eliminate smaller competitors in industries. So, for example, if a smaller company’s product is used by a larger company’s under “fair use” policy, the smaller company might see its profits shrink, and its viability threatened. Indeed, this is a landmark case in the tech industry.
Works Cited
Nicas, Jack. “Google Wins Java Copyright Case Against Oracle.” Wall Street Journal. 26 May, 2016. Web. 26 May, 2016.
