Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in the case of Google v Oracle. In its 2019 brief, Public Knowledge urged the Supreme Court to hold that the Java API is uncopyrightable, in accordance with longstanding tradition, industry practice, and common sense. The Court ruled in favor of Google on fair use grounds, but declined to consider the question of copyrightability.

Yesterday, the Second Circuit upheld a fair use finding in the case of James Oscar Smith v. Drake. The estate of James Oscar Smith sued the artist Drake (among others), claiming that Drake infringed on the estate’s rights when he sampled “Jimmy Smith Rap” for the opening of his track, “Pound Cake.” The trial court disagreed, holding that the sample was a fair use, and the Second Circuit affirmed that finding on appeal.

Today, Public Knowledge, along with R Street Institute, filed an amicus curiae brief in Google v. Oracle before the United States Supreme Court.

Today, the European Parliament voted to amend the Copyright Directive to force platform companies to create content-upload filters and pay media organizations a link tax. Public Knowledge specifically opposes policies like Article 13 and Article 11. Once adopted by Europe, there is a substantial danger that this idea might be adopted around the world.

Recently, the United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer published a summary of the Trump Administration’s objectives for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Public Knowledge finds that these objectives will harm American consumers and innovators.

Today, Public Knowledge proudly released its new copyright educational video entitled, “Let Them Go.” The video is a parody of the well-known Disney song “Let It Go,” with revised lyrics that educate viewers on important topics in copyright, namely copyright term extension, intermediary liability, and fair use. Clips throughout the video also illustrate numerous fair uses and other adaptations of “Let It Go.”

Today, a jury verdict in the Oracle v. Google case found that Google’s use of elements of the Java programming language was fair use.

Public Knowledge balanced copyright advocates Raza Panjwani and John Bergmayer will appear at public roundtable discussions May 18-20 to discuss software-enabled consumer devices (May 18) and the DMCA’s Section 1201 anticircumvention provision (May 19-20) at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. The U.S. Copyright Office is hosting these public roundtables as it studies how various provisions of copyright law impact rights owners, consumers and even internet service providers.

Public Knowledge announces a new hire to grow our telecommunications, copyright and internet policy advocacy. Ryan Clough, a litigator and former congressional staffer, joins Public Knowledge as General Counsel to direct the organization’s legal team.

Today, the United States Supreme Court denied cert in the long-running Google Books case, Authors Guild, et al. v. Google, Inc., letting stand the Second Circuit’s landmark decision that digitizing, indexing, and displaying snippets of print books in internet search results constitute a fair use under copyright law.