Google vs. Oracle Lawsuit Resurrected by Federal Court

The eight-year battle between Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is far from over.

On Tuesday (March 27), an appeals court ruled for the second time Oracle’s copyright lawsuit against Google when the company was building its Android smartphone platform back in 2009.

According to the 52-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Google’s cross-appeals from the the “final judgement purportedly to “preserv[e] its claim that the declarations/SSO are not protected by copyright law.”

As a result, Tuesday’s decision effectively reverses a 2016 jury verdict and resurrects a $9 billion dollar lawsuit previously brought on by Oracle against Google in 2010. Oracle had appealed that decision, which then led to Tuesday’s outcome.

“We  conclude that allowing Google to commercially exploit Oracle’s work will not advance the purposes of copyright in this case,” the document read. “There is nothing fair about taking a copyrighted work verbatim and using it for the same purpose and function as the original in a competing platform.”

In an email statement to the Investing News Network (INN), J. Michael Keyes, partner at international law firm Dorsey & Whitney said Tuesday’s outcome is a “hugely important” development in the law of copyright and fair use.

“Even copying a small amount of code (a few dozen packets) of a much larger work can’t be considered “too small” to be dismissed,” Keyes said. “The Court held that no reasonable jury could have considered the copying “qualitatively insignificant.”  That’s a pretty bold statement for an appellate court to pronounce, which means future litigants need to focus like a laser on how important the copied portion was relative to the greater whole.”

Following Tuesday’s decision, Dorian Daley, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Oracle issued a statement:

 “The Federal Circuit’s opinion upholds fundamental principles of copyright law and makes clear that Google violated the law. This decision protects creators and consumers from the unlawful abuse of their rights.”

“We are disappointed the court reversed the jury finding that Java is open and free for everyone,” Google said in its own statement. “This type of ruling will make apps and online services more expensive for users. We are considering our options.”

While Oracle’s initial lawsuit asked for $9 billion in damages, another court will decide what that number will be, CNN stated.

Unsurprisingly, Google’s share price dipped in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, dropping 4.47 percent to close at $1,006.94, a $47.15 loss to its share price. Shares of Oracle also suffered a similar fate, dipping slightly less by 2.37 percent to close on Tuesday at $45.38.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Jocelyn Aspa, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.