Google has called out for U.S. Supreme court to hear its copyright dispute case over java APIs brought in by Oracle Corp.
In a request filed with the Supreme court on Monday , the software giant is seeking to overturn an appeals court May ruling that said Oracle could copyright parts of the Java programming language, which Google used to design its Android smartphone operating system.
The lawsuit filed four years ago by Oracle accuses Google of infringing patents and copyrights related to Java in its Android mobile OS. Oracle claims that Google had improperly incorporated parts of Java into Android, which is currently the most widely used mobile operating system. The former is seeking roughly $1 billion on its copyright claims.
Google argued that the APIs shouldn’t be protected by copyright because they’re required to write compatible programs. While a San Francisco federal judge ruled that Oracle could not claim copyright protection on parts of Java, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington in a ruling passed earlier this year, sided with Oracle claiming APIs are creative works that deserve protection like any other.
“Early computer companies could have blocked vast amounts of technological development by claiming 95-year copyright monopolies over the basic building blocks of computer design and programming,” Google said in its filing, according to a Reuters report.
Google’s filing wasn’t immediately available on the Supreme Court’s website. There are even chances that the court might decline search giant’s request. Oracle has until Nov. 7 to file its response.
