On January 13th, 2020, the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) filed a brief amicus curiae in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. before the United States Supreme Court. In its brief, SFLC argues (1) that the Federal Circuit erred in reversing the District Court’s determination that a reasonable jury could find Google’s use of Java in Android was a fair use; (2) that the Supreme Court should ensure the Federal Circuit’s decision that APIs are copyrightable does not establish precedent; and (3) that the Federal Circuit is bound to follow the precedent of the regional courts of appeals on questions of copyright law.

The brief is available to download as a pdf.

The Supreme Court’s April 3rd decision of the long-running dispute between Oracle and Google brings to a last victorious conclusion the free software movement’s legal campaign, which began more than thirty years ago. Though the Justices have only now resolved the issue of API copyright, it was among the first of the legal problems with which FSF and I dealt.

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