The Copyright Act provides a fair use defense that permits an unauthorized use of a copyrighted work in certain circumstances. Following the Google Books case, which, according to the Second Circuit, “tests the boundaries of fair use,” Authors Guild v. Google, 804 F.3d 202, 206 (2d Cir. 2015), two cases pending at the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Eleventh and Federal Circuits may further test these boundaries.
In Code Revision Commission v. Public.Resource.org, No. 17-11589, the Eleventh Circuit will decide whether Public Resource’s copying and distribution of the annotated version of the official state code of Georgia is a fair use. And in Oracle America v. Google, No. 17-1118, the Federal Circuit will decide whether Google’s use of portions of Oracle’s Java programming language in Google’s Android mobile operating system constitutes a fair use. We report here on these cases, providing guidance for practitioners.
