[Hanyang Journal of Law Vol.2(2015)] A STUDY ON THE INTEROPERABILITY DEBATE IN ORACLE AMERICA, INC. V. GOOGLE INC.

Gibong Kang, A STUDY ON THE INTEROPERABILITY DEBATE IN ORACLE AMERICA, INC. V. GOOGLE INC., Hanyang Journal of Law Vol.2, 2015.03, pp. 95-114.

 

 

CONTENTS

 

I. INTRODUCTION ················································································································ 96

II. BACKGROUND AND JUDGMENTS OF ORACLE V. GOOGLE CASE ·· 97

III. JUDGMENTS OF THE COURT ON GOOGLE’S INTEROPERABILITY ARGUMENTS ························································································································· 104

IV. REVIEW OF THE CASE ························································································· 109

V. CONCLUSION ················································································································· 113

 

 

ABSTRACT

 

In August 12, 2010, Oracle filed suit against Google Inc. (“Google”) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Google’s Android mobile operating system infringed Oracle’s patents and copyrights. And, May 9th of 2014 saw a decision on a case of ORACLE AMERICA, INC. v. GOOGLE INC. at the United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit. A striking point at this case involved whether the 37 JAVA API(application
programming interfaces) package program’s declaring source code(“declaring code”) and its sequence, structure, sequence, and organization(SSO) are the copyrightable work and whether the specific computer routine called rangeCheck and 8 decompiled files infringe copyright. Meanwhile, Oracle claimed copyright protection with respect to both: (1) literal elements of its API packages—the 7,000 lines of declaring source code; and (2) nonliteral elements—the structure, sequence, and organization of each of the 37 Java API packages. In response thereto, Google suggested that the SSO of the 37 API packages is functionally required for compatibility, and thus is not copyrightable. In addition to this, Google explained that like the other aspects of the SSO of the 37 API packages, interfaces and exceptions are functional requirements for compatibility with the APIs in those packages, and therefore are not copyrightable. Accordingly, among Oracle’s copyright infringement claims of Java API packages programs, this study resolves discussion around copyrightability of the code including functional elements essential for interoperability and application of the fair use doctrine for the declaring source code and SSO of the 37 API packages. 

 

 

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