US Supreme Court steps into Google-Oracle copyright fight

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court said Friday it will referee a high-profile copyright dispute between techlogy giants Oracle and Google. Oracle says it wants nearly $9 billion from Google.

case stems from Google’s development of its hugely popular Android operating system by using Oracle’s Java programming langu.

A federal appeals court found that Google unfairly used Java without paying for it, second appellate ruling in Oracle’s favor. A trial court has yet to assess dams.

justices agreed to review appeals court ruling, and arguments are expected early next year.

first Android phone went on sale in 2008 and Google says more than 2 billion mobile devices w use Android.

dispute stretches back to 2010, when Oracle filed suit over Google’s use of 11,500 lines of Java code. In first of two trials, a federal judge ruled that so-called “application programming interfaces” (APIs) weren’t protected by copyright.

After appeals court overturned that ruling, a jury found in a second trial that Google h me “fair use” of programming code.

“re is thing fair about taking a copyrighted work verbatim and using it for same purpose and function as original in a competing platform,” Judge Kathleen O’Malley of U.S. Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit wrote in a decision siding with Oracle.

Microsoft was among many parties that urged Supreme Court to upend appeals court ruling. Trump ministration, responding to a request from court for its views, said justices should stay out of case.

Google senior vice president Kent Walker said company is pleased court will hear case. “Developers should be able to create applications across platforms and t be locked into one company’s software,” Walker said.

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Associated Press writer Rachel Lerman contributed to this report from San Francisco.