Despite the high court’s inaction on the case, the Google-Oracle legal flap is far from resolved. That’s because the appeals court sent the case back to the lower courts to determine whether Google’s use of the code in Android—which it no longer uses—constitutes a “fair use.” Oracle is seeking $1 billion in damages.
“This is not the end of the road for this case—the Federal Circuit decision explicitly left open the possibility that the kinds of uses Google made were permissible under copyright’s fair use doctrine,” said Charles Duan, the director of Public Knowledge’s patent reform project.
What is fair use? The US Copyright Office says that defense to copyright infringement is decided on a case-by-case basis. “The distinction between what is fair use and what is infringement in a particular case will not always be clear or easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission,” the US Copyright Office says.
In a statement, Google said it would “continue to defend the interoperability that has fostered innovation and competition in the software industry.” Oracle, however, countered, saying the outcome is a “win for innovation.”