By Brent Kendall And Shira Ovide
WASHINGTON--The Supreme Court denied Google Inc.'s attempt to
overturn a ruling in favor of Oracle Corp. in a closely watched
case over software copyrights that underscored sharp divisions in
the high-tech sector.
The high court's decision Monday left intact a prior ruling that
certain kinds of programming instructions are entitled to copyright
protection, as Oracle argued. Google and some other industry groups
argued that treating the instructions as creative works protected
by copyright could hurt the ability of companies and programmers to
take advantage of standard software functions and make different
programs work together.
The move is the latest development in a case dating to 2010,
when Oracle alleged Google's Android smartphone operating system
infringed copyrights to Oracle's Java programming technology. The
technology, which originated at Sun Microsystems Inc., includes a
programming language and a layer of software that helps programs
work on multiple kinds of operating systems and hardware.
The justices, without comment, declined to disturb a May 2014
appeals-court ruling in Oracle's favor that reinvigorated the
company's case against Google. The appeals court, overruling a
trial judge, said 37 packages of prewritten Java programs--known as
application programming interfaces, or APIs--were entitled to
copyright protection.
The decision to stay out of the case is a win for Oracle, which
sells corporate databases and owns Java, a widely used
software-programming platform. Oracle had sought over $1 billion in
damages and fought vigorously the idea that Google--or any other
company--should be allowed to use any part of Java in software or
apps without paying Oracle a fee. Each side had said a win for its
opponent would seriously impede innovation.
The case had been watched closely in the technology industry
because it centered on the ability to copyright APIs, an
increasingly prevalent way for different software programs to
interact with one another. The 2014 ruling held that APIs can,
indeed, be copyrighted. However, it left unsettled Google's
separate argument that, even if the Java APIs were subject to
copyright, it could use them under copyright law's provision for
fair use. The fair use issue will have to be retried in a lower
court.
Google had asked the Supreme Court to hear the case and limit
how software makers could use copyright law to assert exclusive
rights over computer programs. It argued Oracle shouldn't be able
to claim copyrights on basic software commands.
Oracle said its computer code was original and creative, and
argued that Google's position would undermine important legal
protections for software. It said Google should have paid for a
license or written all of its own code separately.
The Supreme Court showed some initial interest in the case,
asking the Obama administration for its views on whether the court
should intervene.
U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli responded with a brief
that urged the court to sidestep the case, particularly because the
fair-use issue hadn't been resolved in the lower court. Mr.
Verrilli also said one of Google's main arguments against
copyrights on the Java packages was without merit.
A spokesman for Google said: "We will continue to defend the
interoperability that has fostered innovation and competition in
the software industry."
Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley said the high court's action
"is a win for innovation and for the technology industry that
relies on copyright protection to fuel innovation."
Don Clark in San Francisco contributed to this article.
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com and Shira Ovide
at shira.ovide@wsj.com
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