Intellectual Property News
In 2008, Google LLC (“Google”) released Android, “an open-source platform designed to enable mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. The Android platform was built using the Java programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by Oracle American, Inc. (“Oracle”). Prior to Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Google replicated the syntax and structure of the Java application programming interface (“API”) within the Android platform to ensure third-party developers could utilize the prewritten methods and declarations known within Java’s API libraries. Google replicated “37 Java API libraries that were determined by Google to be ‘key to mobile devices,’” which attributed to only 3% of the Android environment. Google independently wrote the remainder of the code to “accommodate the unique challenges” of the mobile device environment. Upon its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Oracle sued Google in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (“District Court”), alleging copyright infringement for the replicated code.
As the nation continues to mourn the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we would like to recognize Justice Ginburg’s dedication to preserving intellectual property rights.
Decisions related to utility patents, design patents, and trademarks are reviewed.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision in American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. v. Neapco Holdings LLC, invalidated claims for a patent directed to a driveshaft. This case is of interest, because the court used the Alice/Mayo analysis to invalidate a mechanical patent.