Google appeal in Oracle case denied by Supreme Court
SAN FRANCISCO — Google's appeal to stop a software copyright lawsuit was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, placing the outcome of this high-stakes legal battle with Oracle back in federal court.
The Supreme Court rejected Google's appeal of a lower court decision that favored Oracle, which alleges Google's Android smartphone operating system, the world's most popular mobile software, infringes on copyrights of Oracle's Java software language.
It now shifts back to a federal courtroom in San Francisco, where the outcome could be a seminal ruling on "fair use" in the digital age, or how much one person or company can use the software code of another without having to pay royalties.
The high-court denial is latest development in the case, which stretches back to 2010 and has split major technology software makers on how the most widely-used applications and services are developed. The case got new life when an appeals court overruled a trial judge in May 2014.
A jury originally found that Google infringed the Oracle copyrights but deadlocked on Google's claims that it was fair use.
The case has divided some of Silicon Valley's most influential companies. On one side are Google and other technology companies that use API's, such as the Java-based API for Android, to develop apps and Internet services. On the other: Oracle and other creators of programming interfaces, which allow different software languages to communicate.
Google and its supporters say a ruling against Google could push the tech industry back toward a proprietary model of developing operating systems. That, in turn, could curtail innovation, they warn.
"We will continue to defend the interoperability that has fostered innovation and competition in the software industry," Google spokesman Aaron Stein said.
Oracle, and other entities that filed "friends of the court" briefs in the case, including Microsoft, say strong copyright rulings are needed for the very same reason.
Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley called Monday's decision "a win for innovation and for the technology industry that relies on copyright protection to fuel innovation."
Contributing: John Shinal in San Francisco