Oracle v. Google Supreme Court Materials
– Oracle v. Google ScotusBlog page – collects all filings with the Supreme Court, including many amicus briefs link
– Docket page on USSC site link
– Google Cert Petition link
– Oracle Opposition to Cert Petition link
– Google Reply Brief in Support of Cert link
– Solicitor General Brief Recommending USSC Deny Cert link
– Transcript of oral argument at Supreme Court link
– Supreme Court Opinion (April 5, 2021) in favor of Google link
Merit Briefs – all available on docket page (see above for link)
– Google Opening Brief: filed 01-06-2020
– Oracle Response Brief: filed 02-12-2020
– Solicitor General Brief (optional): filed 02-19-2020
– Google Reply Brief: filed March 13, 2020
– Supplemental Briefs on Seventh Amendment/Jury Issue: filed August 7, 2020
— Oral argument: October 7, 2020 (rescheduled from 2019 term)
Federal Circuit Opinions
– 2018 opinion holding that Google’s copy of Java API not fair use link
– 2014 opinion holding that Java API protected by copyright link
District Court Opinions
– 2012 opinion holding that Java API no protected by copyright link
Lotus v. Borland
The First Circuit decision in Lotus v. Borland likely is the most important precedent on the issue of whether the Java API should be copyright-protected. The case was argued before the Supreme Court, which tied 4-4 (one Justice recused himself). Therefore, the First Circuit decision was affirmed. However, the holding has not been adopted by any other circuit, and therefore it remains an outlier.
– First Circuit decision (49 F.3d 807 (1995)) link
– Recording of oral argument before USSC link
– Transcript of oral argument before USSC link
– Elana Kagan White House files (now-Justice Kagan was an attorney in the White House Counsel’s Office in 1995) link
– Youtube video interviewing many of the people involved in Lotus v. Borland link
– Archive.org page – links to Supreme Court party and amicus briefs link
My Posts and Presentations on Oracle v. Google
– Will the Supreme Court Decide Oracle v. Google on a Technicality? link
– Supreme Court Focuses on Standard of Review/Seventh Amendment Issue in Oracle v. Google link
– Oracle v. Google: Will The Best Analogy Win? (January 2020) link
– Oracle v. Google in a Nutshell (December 2019) link
– Will the Supreme Court Review Oracle v. Google? Please? (January 2019) link
– Federal Circuit’s Fair Use Decision in Oracle v. Google – – Astonishing, But Not Surprising (May 2018) link
– CAFC Reverses Judge Alsup – Java API Declaring Code Held – Copyrightable (May 2014) link
– Oral Argument in Oracle v. Google: A Setback for Google? (December 2013) link
– Oracle v. Google: How Google Could Lose on Appeal (November 2013) link
– Presentation before Boston Bar Association (November 2013) link
Selected Articles on Lotus, Oracle and Software Copyrights
Oracle v. Google and Lotus v. Borland have generated hundreds of law review articles and blog posts. I’ll share here a variety of what I think is some of the best writing on these cases.
– Staking the Boundaries of Software Copyrights in the Shadow of Patents, Pamela Samuelson link
– Collection of posts by Jonathan Band and guest authors link
– The Judges’s Code, Sarah Jeong link
– How Oracle erred: The “Use/Explanation Distinction” and the future of computer copyright, Wendy Gordon link
– Locke for the Masses: Property Rights and the Products of Collective Creativity, Robert P. Merges link
– Three Common Fallacies in the User Interface Copyright Debate, Thomas M.S. Hemnes link
