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U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether a Software Interface is Protected under Copyright Law

In a case that pertains to technology originally developed in the 1990s, the United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. The dispute between these two technology giants focuses on application programming interfaces (API) that Oracle developed through its predecessor, Sun Microsystems, Inc. At issue for the technology industry is whether an API is copyrightable and, therefore, protected.

The API is critical to most technology companies, especially those with complex and multi-layered tech stacks, because it allows the company to integrate and communicate with other software developers. By way of example and at issue in the case, the Android operating system uses the API originally created by Oracle to allow third-party developers to integrate into the operating system. Although most consumers will not understand how the API works, the use of third-party applications in the Google owned Android operating system is made possible through the API. As a result of its importance in modern commerce, many technology companies protect the structure, sequence, and organization of the API, even if they share how to connect to it.

Regardless of the decision by the Supreme Court on whether the API is protectable under copyright law, the ramifications will be significant. In fact, most of the prominent global technology companies have filed briefs in this case to voice their opinion on the matter. When the Supreme Court decides the case in 2020, every company that interfaces and integrates into the software of another company will need to re-evaluate their intellectual property protection strategies.