Google found guilty of copyright infringement in Oracle’s Android suit

The first phase of Oracle’s lawsuit against Google came to a close today, and the jury has found in favor of Oracle, but only on one count. The case is complex, and even the copyright verdict just handed down could be nullified in a number of ways. If the ruling from today does stand, though, it could create a precedent going forward that puts many Java programmers in a tough spot.

The jury found that Google did infringe on Oracle’s copyright by using the Java APIs in Androidwithout a licence. Programmers come down on both sides of this issue, but APIs have so far been assumed to be free of copyright, or at least covered by fair use depending on implementation. An API is essentially an instruction that details how a system can be used and communicated with. Without APIs, you can’t really use Java.

While the jury did find in favor of Oracle on this matter, it was unable to decide if Google’s use of the Java APIs constituted fair use. Additionally, there was no decision on whether or not some code snippets copied from Oracle’s Java documentation counted as infringement. Perhaps this might be irrelevant anyway because of the way Judge William Alsup has chosen to run the trial.

The jury was instructed ahead of time, for the purposes of deliberation, to assume that APIs were copyrightable. This led to the ruling on API infringement, but it’s far from a sure thing. The judge will decide on the question of whether or not APIs can be copyrighted at a later date, which could nullify the verdict. Because the judge has turned back Oracle’s requests for “infringer’s profits” from those copied bits of code, Oracle might actually see very little in the way of damages if Alsup ultimately finds APIs not copyrightable.

Oracle is after a piece of Google’s cash pile in this case, not to kill Android, and it’s looking increasingly like it might get some sort of payout (but maybe not as much as hoped). It would help Oracle’s bottom line in the short term, but copyright experts fear that if Oracle is seen as clamping down on Java, which is open source, that other programmers will shy away from using it.

After the partial ruling, the judge chose to forge ahead into the patent phase of the case, which will surely set the internet on the warpath (you know how the internet loves software patents). Google has asked for a mistrial, and filings will be made to that effect later this week. Oracle will, of course, oppose it. Damages (if any) in the trial won’t even be worked out until after the patent questions have been explored, and that is likely to take much longer than the initial copyright phase. The situation is very fluid, and even though Google took a few bruises today, it might still win in the long run.