Over the past several weeks there has been much commentary regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's recent opinion in Andy Warhol Foundation ("AWF") v. Goldsmith. The facts of the case date back to the early 1980s when Vanity Fair...more
The United States Supreme Court recently issued its first opinion in the realm of copyright since its 2021 decision in Google v. Oracle, this time focusing not on software and source code, but on pop art and the publishing...more
In a closely watched copyright case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Andy Warhol’s portraits of music legend Prince did not qualify as fair use under copyright law. The decision affirms a previous ruling by the...more
On March 28th, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, a case involving the core issues around copyright fair use. The case involves a series of Warhol drawings and silkscreen prints adapted...more
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to review the Second Circuit’s decision that Andy Warhol’s well-known “Prince Series” was not a “transformative” fair use of the copyrighted Lynn Goldsmith photograph that Warhol used...more
Addressing fair use as an affirmative defense to copyright infringement, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit amended its recent opinion, reversing a district court’s summary judgment in favor of fair use. The Court...more
After more than a decade of litigation that included multiple trials and appeals, the Supreme Court of the United States finally put an end to the copyright infringement case Oracle brought against Google. The case was about...more
Copying From a Copyrighted Computer Program May Be Fair Use to the Extent Needed to Promote Adoption of the Use of Accrued Talents in Creating a New Software Platform - In Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., Appeal No....more
In This Issue - Section 230 and the Future of Content Moderation - We analyze Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—the 1996 law that provides a legal shield for internet providers from content created by their...more
The Court cleared Google of copyright infringement in terminating a 16-year long dispute as to whether Google’s Android mobile platform had infringed Oracle’s Java programming language’s copyright. However, the Court did not...more
The decade-long dispute between Google LLC and Oracle America Inc. has now ended with the Supreme Court ruling 6-2 in favor of Google. This dispute concerned Google’s use of Oracle’s “declaring code” – software that provides...more
The question of fair use has been the subject of many notable court decisions, including one recent one from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals holding that Warhol’s use in the artwork of Lynn Goldsmith’s photographs wasn’t...more
On April 5, 2021, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Google v. Oracle, ruling 6-2 in Google’s favor on the issue of fair use. So ends a decade-plus battle between two tech giants that many viewed as having the potential...more
After the Supreme Court's April 6 decision in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., 141 S.Ct. 1183 (2021), the computer software and programming industry can breathe a tentative sigh of relief and perhaps sleep more soundly....more
In a 6–2 decision authored by Justice Breyer, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s 2018 ruling that Google’s use of Oracle’s Java application programming interface...more
On April 5, 2021, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Google, LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. in favor of Google by a 6-2 majority, with Barrett not participating. Oracle owns a copyright in Java, a popular...more
Finding Google’s copying a fair use, the Supreme Court ended Oracle’s decade-long attempt to recover copyright damages. The battle began between these tech giants when Google designed its Android software platform for mobile...more
U.S. Supreme Court holds that Google's use of a small fraction of Oracle's Java SE API code for its Android platform is a fair use under copyright law. On April 5, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ended a more than 10-year...more
On Monday, April 5, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Google in a dispute over Google’s use of Oracle’s copyrighted software in its Android platform, because the use was protected under the “fair use” doctrine....more
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Google v. Oracle has the potential to expand software developers’ freedom to build on existing products, while also limiting software copyright protections. On Monday, April 5, 2021, the...more
After over 10 years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week in Oracle v. Google that Google’s use of 11,500 lines of Oracle’s code in its Android platform was a fair use. Borrowing the code made it easier...more
Back at it. Let’s get caught up . . . Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling for a global minimum tax rate on multinational corporations, a move aimed at helping “prevent companies based in other countries from having a...more
Was it fair for Google to copy 11,500 lines of Oracle’s copyrighted Java Application Programming Interface (API) simply to make it easier for programmers already familiar with Java to develop apps for Google’s Android...more
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued the following decision: Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., No. 18-956: Petitioner Google LLC developed the Android software platform for smartphone devices, with the...more
Copyright jurisprudence in 2020 was, in many ways, a study in the scope of copyright protection. While certain courts brought century-year-old precedent to the forefront to interpret the scope of copyrights, other courts...more