Stephen Breyer
Role at the time: Associate justice writing the Supreme Court majority opinion
Defended or excused
Statement summary
Breyer's majority concludes that the particular copying was fair use, with emphasis on the code's function and its use by programmers in a new computing environment.
“Google’s copying did not violate the copyright law.”
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)Google LLC v. Oracle America: Supreme Court majority and dissentNo. 18-956; majority opening and conclusion; Thomas dissent pages 1-2 and 18-19
The Court assumes copyrightability for purposes of its analysis and holds that the particular copying was fair use. Thomas, joined by Alito, dissents.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The reference is Google's copying of Java API declaring code for Android. The majority expressly justifies that use under copyright's fair-use doctrine.