Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/18-956_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 36.0

32 

GOOGLE LLC v. ORACLE AMERICA, INC. 

Opinion of the Court 

the evidence showing that Sun was beset by business chal-
lenges in developing a mobile phone product, the jury was
entitled to agree with that assessment. 

Second, the jury was  repeatedly told that devices using 
Google’s Android platform were different in kind from those 
that licensed Sun’s technology.  For instance, witnesses ex-
plained  that  the  broader  industry  distinguished  between
smartphones and simpler “feature phones.”  Id., at 237.  As 
to the specific devices that used Sun-created software, the
jury heard that one of these phones lacked a touchscreen, 
id., at 359–360, while another did not have a QWERTY key-
board, id., at 672.  For other mobile devices, the evidence 
showed  that  simpler  products,  like  the  Kindle,  used  Java 
software, id., at 396, while more advanced technology, like 
the  Kindle  Fire,  were  built  on  the  Android  operating  sys-
tem, id., at 206.  This record evidence demonstrates that, 
rather than just “repurposing [Sun’s] code from larger com-
puters to smaller computers,” post, at 16, Google’s Android 
platform was part of a distinct (and more advanced) market
than Java software. 

Looking  to  these  important  differences,  Google’s  eco-
nomic expert told the jury that Android was not a market
substitute  for  Java’s  software.  As  he  explained,  “the  two
products  are  on  very  different  devices,”  and  the  Android
platform, which offers “an entire mobile operating stack,” is
a “very different typ[e] of produc[t]” than Java SE, which is
“just an applications programming framework.”  App. 256; 
see  also  id.,  at  172–174.  Taken  together,  the  evidence
showed  that  Sun’s  mobile  phone  business  was  declining, 
while  the  market  increasingly  demanded  a  new  form  of 
smartphone technology that Sun was never able to offer.

Finally, the jury also heard evidence that Sun foresaw a
benefit from the broader use of the Java programming lan-
guage in a new platform like Android, as it would further 
expand the network of Java-trained programmers.  Id., at 
131–133; see also id., at 153 (“Once an API starts getting