Google Argues That the Merger Doctrine Bars Copyright Protection of Oracle's Source Code

Oracle vs. Google (2014) Court Filing, retrieved on May 9, 2014, is part of . You can jump to any part in this filing . This is part 7 of 16. HackerNoon’s Legal PDF Series here 1. Declaring Source Code First, Oracle argues that the district court erred in concluding that each line of declaring source code is completely unprotected under the merger and short phrases doctrines. Google responds that Oracle waived its right to assert copyrightability based on the 7,000 lines of declaring code by failing “to object to instructions and a verdict form that effectively eliminated that theory from the case.” Appellee Br. 67. Even if not waived, moreover, Google argues that, because there is only one way to write the names and declarations, the merger doctrine bars copyright protection. We find that Oracle did not waive arguments based on Google’s literal copying of the declaring code. Prior to trial, both parties informed the court that Oracle’s copyright infringement claims included the declarations of the API elements in the Android class library source code. See Oracle’s Statement of Issues Regarding Copyright, Oracle Am., Inc. v. Google Inc., No. 3:10-cv-3561 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 12, 2012), ECF No. 899-1, at 3 (Oracle accuses the “declarations of the API elements in the Android class library source code and object code that implements the 37 API packages” of copyright infringement.); see also Google’s Proposed Statement of Issues Regarding Copyright, Oracle Am., Inc. v. Google Inc., No. 3:10-cv-3561 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 12, 2012), ECF No. 901, at 2 (Oracle accuses the “declarations of the API elements in Android class library source code and object code that implements the 37 API packages.”). While Google is correct that the jury instructions and verdict form focused on the structure and organization of the packages, we agree with Oracle that there was no need for the jury to address copying of the declaring code because Google conceded that it copied it verbatim. Indeed, the district court specifically instructed the jury that “Google agrees that it uses the same names and declarations” in Android. Final Charge to the Jury at 10. That the district court addressed the declaring code in its post-jury verdict copyrightability decision further confirms that the verbatim copying of declaring code remained in the case. The court explained that the “identical lines” that Google copied into Android “are those lines that specify the names, parameters and functionality of the methods and classes, lines called ‘declarations’ or ‘headers.’” Copyrightability Decision, 872 F. Supp. 2d at 979. The court specifically found that the declaring code was not entitled to copyright protection under the merger and short phrases doctrines. We address each in turn. Continue Reading . Here About HackerNoon Legal PDF Series: We bring you the most important technical and insightful public domain court case filings. This court case 10-CV-3561 retrieved on September 22, 2023, from is part of the public domain. The court-created documents are works of the federal government, and under copyright law, are automatically placed in the public domain and may be shared without legal restriction. law.justia.com

Google Argues That the Merger Doctrine Bars Copyright Protection of Oracle's Source Code

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