Google in a Tech Battle Over Free Speech

In the upcoming month, Google will be arguing to the Supreme Court over First Amendment Rights. In a dispute that had favored Google's competitor, Oracle, back in 2018 over API codes was processed through the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court will now be hearing it.

What are they even arguing about??

Well, Oracle and Google have been in a dispute for about a decade now, over Google's use of 11,000 lines worth of computer code that is called "application programming interface" (API), that was originally created by Oracle.
In the dispute, Google says that this code is not a creative piece of work, which is required for copyright laws. They say that developers need this code to create their own work, and thus it doesn't fall under copyright.
On the other hand, Oracle states that this code does in fact fall under copyright laws, and Google had used this coding so they could compete with Oracle and make millions of dollars off of the android products they sell.

What does this have to do with the First Amendment?

Google says that this coding is necessary for other developers to create their own work, and if taken away, will limit our ways of communicating to each other. And it could create chaos because companies would then have to create their own codes that would be incompatible with others. Oracle doesn't necessarily disagree with that, but they want Google to pay a fee for using this code.

With whatever decision the Supreme Court makes, this case with further to help us define what is considered "fair use" with computers, and what is considered a creative piece of work.

Source:
https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/2020/02/20/google-v-oracle-tech-battle-ultimately-about-free-speech/