Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/18-956_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 30

26 

GOOGLE LLC v. ORACLE AMERICA, INC. 

Opinion of the Court 

Android.  It copied the API (which Sun created for use in 
desktop and laptop computers) only insofar as needed to in-
clude tasks that would be useful in smartphone programs.
App. 169–170.  And it did so only insofar as needed to allow 
programmers to call upon those tasks without discarding a 
portion of a familiar programming language and learning a 
new one.  Id., at 139–140.  To repeat, Google, through An-
droid, provided a new collection of tasks operating in a dis-
tinct  and  different  computing  environment.    Those  tasks 
were carried out through the use of new implementing code
(that Google wrote) designed to operate within that new en-
vironment.  Some of the amici refer to what Google did as
“reimplementation,”  defined  as  the  “building  of  a  sys-
tem . . .  that  repurposes  the  same  words  and  syntaxes”  of
an existing system—in this case so that programmers who 
had learned an existing system could put their basic skills
to  use in  a new  one.  Brief  for  R Street  Institute  et al.  as 
Amici Curiae 2. 

The  record  here  demonstrates  the  numerous  ways  in
which reimplementing an interface can further the devel-
opment of computer programs.  The jury heard that shared
interfaces are necessary for different programs to speak to
each other.  App. 125 (“We have to agree on the APIs so that 
the  application  I  write  to  show  a  movie  runs  on  your  de-
vice”).  It heard that the reimplementation of interfaces is 
necessary  if  programmers  are  to  be  able  to  use  their  ac-
quired  skills.  Id.,  at  191  (“If  the API  labels change,  then 
either the software wouldn’t continue to work anymore or 
the developer . . . would have to learn a whole new language 
to be able to use these API labels”).  It heard that the reuse 
of APIs is common in the industry.  Id., at 115, 155, 663.  It 
heard  that  Sun  itself  had  used  pre-existing  interfaces  in 
creating Java.  Id., at 664.  And it heard that Sun executives 
thought that widespread use of the Java programming lan-
guage, including use on a smartphone platform, would ben-
efit the company.  Id., at 130–133.