HPA Tech Retreat: An Update to Compelling Copyright Issues
By Debra Kaufman
At the HPA Tech Retreat in Rancho Mirage, California, Thompson Coburn partner Jim Burger presented his annual update on activities in Washington D.C. relevant to the media and entertainment business. Among the numerous copyright issues that Burger examined was the long-running case of Oracle America v. Google, which is centered on whether or not Oracle’s Java APIs are copyrightable. Google used early versions of the APIs to create its Android operating system.
Burger reported that Google, which copied 37 Java APIs from then-owner Sun Microsystems to build upon the Android operating system it bought in 2005, said it did so under the provisions of fair use. When Oracle bought Sun in 2009, the acquisition of the Java language was a key “get.”
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