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Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

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Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#21
post #18

Today is a sad day for Silicon Valley. Our legal process has demonstrated how incompetent it is when it comes to Technology IP protection.

Today is a wonderful day for Silicon Valley. Our legal process has demonstrated that it can learn and improve when it comes to Technology.

Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#22
post #12

These are the statutory fair use factors the jury was required to consider (17 U.S.C. 107): (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential…

>Oracle's strategy going forward, both in post-trial motions and in any subsequent appeal, will be based on arguing that no jury could have applied these factors to the undisputed facts of the case and concluded that the fair use test was met.

Didn't a jury just do exactly that? I realize Oracle must have an opinion contrary to the ruling else what's the point of an appeal, but will that really be the line of attack? We don't like the outcome, therefore we question whether the jury knew what they were doing?

Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#23
This is possibly my best-case scenario. APIs are copywriteable (so says the Supreme Court), and this seems reasonable, since some APIs really are very good and treating them like an artistic work has benefits. But implementing them is fair use, preserving the utility of APIs for compatibility. Great news!

Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#25
post #17
post #13

Wow. I suddenly have a lot more faith in the courts and juries to land sane verdicts in technology trials. Still sad that it takes a billion dollar company to be able to stand up to this (as anybody smaller would be crushed by the trial expense) but let's celebrate it none the less. Any lawyers around? I wonder if Google can claim legal expenses back from Oracle.

Under the Copyright Act, the judge has discretion to award attorney fees to the prevailing party. [0] [0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/505

> Under the Copyright Act, the judge has discretion to award attorney fees to the prevailing party. [0]

I think that'd be good for the ecosystem as it'd send a message that there will be consequence for pursuing frivolous lawsuits.

Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#26
post #18

Today is a sad day for Silicon Valley. Our legal process has demonstrated how incompetent it is when it comes to Technology IP protection.

How so? My understanding was that Oracle was suing Google over the use of an API. This seems quite unreasonable to me but that could be due to my tech background and lack of legal knowledge.

Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#27
post #12

These are the statutory fair use factors the jury was required to consider (17 U.S.C. 107): (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential…

Agreed, it sounds like by the letter of the law Google's use was not "fair use", if you grant the assumption that APIs are copyrightable in the first place.

What recourse does Oracle have now? Didn't the Supreme Court decline to take this issue up last time round? Does that mean this case is closed?

Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#28
post #12

These are the statutory fair use factors the jury was required to consider (17 U.S.C. 107): (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential…

It's always going to be tougher to get a no reasonable jury finding on a factor test like that than an element test. Implicit in a multi-factor test is that the weighing of the importance of the various factors with respect to each other is left to the trier of fact.

Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#29
post #12

These are the statutory fair use factors the jury was required to consider (17 U.S.C. 107): (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential…

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

1) Is incomplete. There should also be explicit mention of the creation and extension of open software ecosystems, which are of tremendous public benefit in both commercial and nonprofit forms. I guess this is partially covered by (4).

Re: Jury in Oracle v. Google finds in Google's favour

#30

This is possibly my best-case scenario. APIs are copywriteable (so says the Supreme Court), and this seems reasonable, since some APIs really are very good and treating them like an artistic work has benefits. But implementing them is fair use, preserving the utility of APIs for compatibility. Great news!

If other countries follow USSC's lead in declaring APIs as copyrightable, many of which have far looser fair use rights than the US, then this could create a lot of headaches, especially since this seems like a very loose interpretation of the US's already loose fair-use laws.
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