Brief Amicus Curiae of Michael Risch in Support of Petitioner Google

Abstract

This brief in the Google v. Oracle Supreme Court Case explains that the protection of software interfaces must be viewed through the lens of infringement rather than copyright registration. It describes the history of filtration at the Supreme Court and argues that when viewed in the proper context, API declarations must be removed from any copyright analysis following the merger, scenes a faire, or method of operation doctrines. Importantly, the Court need not reach the ultimate copyrightability question to determine that Google has not infringed.