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GOOGLE LLC v. ORACLE AMERICA, INC. 

Opinion of the Court 

use  is  inherently  bound  together  with  uncopyrightable 
ideas (general task division and organization) and new cre-
ative  expression  (Android’s  implementing  code).    Unlike 
many other programs, its value in significant part derives
from  the  value  that  those  who  do  not  hold  copyrights,
namely,  computer  programmers,  invest  of  their  own  time 
and effort to learn the API’s system.  And unlike many other
programs, its value lies in its efforts to encourage program-
mers to learn and to use that system so that they will use
(and continue to use) Sun-related implementing programs
that Google did not copy.

Although copyrights protect many different kinds of writ-
ing,  Leval  1116,  we  have  emphasized  the  need  to
“recogni[ze] that some works are closer to the core of [copy-
right]  than  others,”  Campbell,  510  U. S.,  at  586.    In  our 
view, for the reasons just described, the declaring code is, if
copyrightable  at  all,  further  than  are  most  computer  pro-
grams (such as the implementing code) from the core of cop-
yright.  That fact diminishes the fear, expressed by both the
dissent  and  the  Federal  Circuit,  that  application  of  “fair 
use” here would seriously undermine the general copyright 
protection that Congress provided for computer programs. 
And it means that this factor, “the nature of the copyrighted 
work,” points in the direction of fair use. 

B. “The Purpose and Character of the Use” 

In the context of fair use, we have considered whether the 
copier’s use “adds something new, with a further purpose or 
different  character,  altering”  the  copyrighted  work  “with 
new expression, meaning or message.”  Id., at 579.  Com-
mentators  have  put  the  matter  more  broadly,  asking
whether the copier’s use “fulfill[s] the objective of copyright 
law to stimulate creativity for public illumination.”  Leval 
1111.  In answering this question, we have used the word 
“transformative” to describe a copying use that adds some-
thing new and important.  Campbell, 510 U. S., at 579.  An