SCOTUS Sides with Innovation in Copyright Case

By [ Deborah White ]
Washington, DC
04/05/2021

The following statement was issued by Deborah White, President of the Retail Litigation Center in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Google LLC v. Oracle America in which the Court held that Google’s limited utilization of prewritten libraries of codes or application programming interfaces (APIs) constituted a fair use of that material under copyright law:

“Today’s decision is a victory for competition, not merely in the computer marketplace but also in the retail industry. Retailers, other businesses, and ultimately consumers benefit when APIs are consistent across platforms, allowing developers to focus on creating new and improved software systems and products quickly and efficiently instead of wasting time recreating already well-established and familiar APIs.

“The Court’s decision will pave the way for increased operability of online retail. As e-commerce booms, innovation to create a seamless customer experience is rapidly evolving. Today’s decision puts an end to the ambiguity under copyright law surrounding APIs and allows retailers to innovate and transform their software and digital capabilities to meet customers’ everchanging demands.”

The Retail Litigation Center filed an amicus brief in this case prepared by Jonathan S. Massey and Matthew M. Collette of Massey & Gail LLP.

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Retail Litigation Center

Directed by the chief legal officers of the country's leading retail companies, the Retail Litigation Center (RLC) is the only organization dedicated to advocating for the industry's top priorities in the federal and state judiciary. The RLC also works with leading law firms and retail corporate counsel to develop forward-thinking strategies to combat meritless mass action litigation. Founded by the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) in 2010 as an independent organization, the RLC is a 501(c)(6) membership association open to all retailers and select law firms.