Google Copyright Win Fuels Debate Over When Copying Is Changing

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in a long-running battle between Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Oracle Corp. sheds new light on the question of how much a creative work has to be altered to avoid running afoul of copyright law.

A 6-2 high court majority took a broad view on “transformativeness” when it validated the software giant’s use of Java coding to create its Android platform. The term refers to the question of whether a work incorporating a protected work altered the original work’s message or purpose.

Courts for decades have struggled with that fluid, subjective area of the law. In ...