Google’s Copyright Win Emphasizes ‘Greater Good’ in Fair Use

The Supreme Court’s decision that Alphabet Inc.'s Google made fair use of Oracle Corp.’s programming code promises to have a broader impact on how courts decide many fair use cases.

The justices ruled that Google’s copying of a software application programming interface to tailor its Android operating system to smartphones was fair use.

The court’s ruling was focused on Google’s use of the code. But the opinion provides widely applicable guidance on the factors that courts consider in a fair use analysis, attorneys and legal scholars said.

“This is going to be really interesting for fair use cases going ...