Court decision · 5 April 2021

Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.

593 U.S. 1 (2021) · Supreme Court of the United States

What it means for your code

Re-implementing an API interface for compatibility can be fair use in the US, but copying implementation code is a different question.

What happened

Google copied roughly 11,500 lines of Java SE API declaring code to build Android, letting programmers use familiar calls.

What was decided

Google's copying of the Java SE API declarations, taking only what was needed to allow programmers to put their accrued talents to work in a new and transformative program, was fair use as a matter of law.

The legal test applied

Fair use weighed purpose (transformative new platform), nature (declaring code), amount (only what was needed) and market effect

What would have changed the outcome

Copying implementing code, or copying that substitutes for the original

Read the decision at the source

Summary and analysis by Lawpatch, checked by an editor against the source. Risk analysis, not legal advice; the law may have moved on since this decision.