Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/18-956_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 37.0

Cite as:  593 U. S. ____ (2021) 

33 

Opinion of the Court 

reimplemented,  you  know  it  has  succeeded”).    In  other 
words, the jury could have understood Android and Java SE
as  operating  in  two  distinct  markets.  And  because  there 
are two markets at issue, programmers learning the Java 
language  to  work  in  one  market  (smartphones)  are  then
able  to  bring  those  talents  to  the  other  market  (laptops).
See  4  Nimmer  on  Copyright  §13.05[A][4]  (explaining  that 
factor four asks what the impact of “widespread conduct of 
the sort engaged in by the defendant” would be on the mar-
ket for the present work).

Sun presented evidence to the contrary.  Indeed, the Fed-
eral Circuit held that the “market effects” factor militated 
against fair use in part because Sun had tried to enter the
Android market.  886 F. 3d, at 1209 (Sun sought licensing 
agreement with Google).  But those licensing negotiations 
concerned much more than 37 packages of declaring code,
covering  topics  like  “the  implementation  of  [Java’s]  code”
and  “branding  and  cooperation”  between  the  firms.  App.
245; see also 4 Nimmer on Copyright §13.05[A][4] (caution-
ing against the “danger of circularity posed” by considering
unrealized licensing opportunities because “it is a given in
every fair use case that plaintiff suffers a loss of a potential
market if that potential is defined as the theoretical market
for licensing the very use at bar”).  In any event, the jury’s
fair  use  determination  means  that  neither  Sun’s  effort  to 
obtain a license nor Oracle’s conflicting evidence can over-
come evidence indicating that, at a minimum, it would have 
been difficult for Sun to enter the smartphone market, even
had Google not used portions of the Sun Java API.

On the other hand, Google’s copying helped Google make
a  vast  amount  of  money  from  its  Android  platform.    And 
enforcement of the Sun Java API copyright might give Or-
acle a significant share of these funds.  It is important, how-
ever, to consider why and how Oracle might have become 
entitled to this money.  When a new interface, like an API 
or a spreadsheet program, first comes on the market, it may