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Supreme Court Struggles To Settle Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Between Oracle and Google

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Eight Supreme Court Justices have been working tirelessly to find an appropriate analogy to describe a common computer code. A decade ago Google decided to re-use software that was originally created by Oracle-owned Sun Microsystems, the issue now is whether or not Google violated copyright laws in doing this. 

The justices have been trying to come up with various metaphors to describe the computer code in question. They’ve thought of it like a grocery list, restaurant menu, or basic computer keyboard to try to get some sort of greater understanding over how this code works. It’s imperative that the judges understand the full ins and outs of this code because without that understanding they won’t be able to determine if the content that was reused by Google was a copyright infringement or not. 

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The outcome of this case could determine the future of software development in the US. Right now, the laws we have in place treats computer programs as generally copyrightable. However, the type of code involved in this case, according to Google, is not copyrightable because it involves little creative expression and is only ever used by developers as a shorthand to a much larger code that they themselves are likely creating. 

 The code is known as an application programming interface (API) and is imperative for today’s digital economy. Oracle is claiming that the code created by Sun Microsystems is an expressive work that has always been eligible for copyright protection. For close to two hours justices questioned Google on why they had to rely on a code written by another company to design its Android operating system, and why they believed they were able to use the code. 

This is where the analogies came into play, the justices tried to compare Google taking this code from Oracle like a restaurant owner copying the basic structure of another restaurant’s menu, would that be a copyright infringement too? It’s unclear.

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Justice Stephen Breyer expressed a strong preference for Google’s argument, and claimed that Oracle wanting to own the entire copyright of the code would be like the inventor of the QWERTY keyboard (basic computer keyboard) gaining intellectual property rights over all computers. Charles Duan, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute has been keeping up with the case online and seems to think that most of the justices will likely agree with Breyer’s perspective.

“For Oracle’s code to become so important that others would seek to copy it implies that the company should be rewarded, not hurt through copyright infringement. The fact that programers really liked it and that’s what everyone used, it seems a bit much to penalize them for that.”

Google continued to argue that this form of unlicensed copying is completely standard in the software industry, as it saves developers time so that they can create new products, codes, etc. Oracle argued that Google’s copying undermined Sun’s investments in the development of the original code. The entire back-and-forth has been constant with no real resolution yet because both sides make solid arguments. 

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan appeared to be more sympathetic towards Google as well, both using the periodic table and an animal classification system metaphorically to show that the coding was not copyrightable. The case is still open currently, but a decision is projected to be made hopefully by the end of the year.

Computer Coding

Combining Music and Computer Code in Nightclubs

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To the average person, the programming language Sonic Pi looks like any other one, as it’s comprised of numbers, punctuation marks, and letters arranged seemingly at random across the display. But Sonic Pi is unique among coding languages, as it’s designed specifically to produce music in real time. The goal of the language is to allow programmers to use their computers like instruments, creating music as they rapidly type away at their keyboards. With this technique, DJs who are skilled in the art of programming can host music shows at so-called “algoraves,” a portmanteau of the words “algorithm” and “rave.” By taking advantage of this unique musical approach, DJs can experiment with creating music in groundbreaking and innovative ways, using the obscure logic of programming to dynamically craft melodies and entire compositions.

Algoraves are hosted nearly every weekend in cities around the world, including New York City, Moscow, and Mexico City, and draw crowds ranging from technology enthusiasts to music fans who know little about programming. At these shows, code is projected onto a massive screen for audiences to see, as DJs produce in real time the sounds for the crowd to dance to. Instead of working with pre-recorded samples like traditional DJs, algorave musicians improvise music on the fly, as all audio is generated directly by the computer program as it is being created and modified. This technique of music generation allows for an intensely cognitive type of musical creativity, as musicians in this genre tend to be professional computer scientists, many with PhDs.

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Sonic Pi was originally created to be a teaching tool. The idea was that students, who may not be initially inclined to devote the hours upon hours of work necessary to learn programming, may be motivated to do so by combining the task with the joy of music. Though Sonic Pi has not taken off in classrooms, it has found a new, unexpected life in nightclubs around the world. Sonic Pi is not the only language programmers use to make music in real-time; other, more general languages, such as Orca and Hydra, are also used at these events.

Tidal Cycles, a popular free and open source program among algorave enthusiasts, allows users to make patterns with code, and interfaces with other programs to create music or visuals. Sometimes the music is accompanied by visuals that are also generated by programmers working on the fly, who use programming to generate shapes, colors, textures, and animations to project in the club.

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The algorave movement is part of the larger practice of live coding, which started in the 1970s and is often used in the context of the performing arts. Live coding, in which programming is an integral part of the running program, is used not only to create music and visualizations but also as a teaching tool, as it allows professors to demonstrate in real time the effects of making changes to various pieces of code. Algoraves give programmers an opportunity to meet each other and network in a fun and creative environment, and the algorave subculture is known for being friendly and welcoming even to people who have little experience in programming.

The creator of Tidal Cycles, Alex McLean, often hosts festivals and workshops during which guests can learn how to make their own music with code. People become interested in algoraves for a variety of reasons, but perhaps the most compelling reason is the direct level of creativity it allows programmers who ordinarily have to wait for their programs to compile before being able to run them. As the task of programming can be quite tedious and monotonous, particularly when programs take hours to compile, the appeal for professional software engineers and algorave musicians of seeing code come to life in musical form is strong.

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