A Tale of Two Interoperabilities; or, How Google v. Oracle Could Become Social Media Legislation

Authors

Charles Duan, American University Washington College of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Journal

Cardozo Law Review

First Page

246

Last Page

269

Abstract

The Supreme Court'srecent decision in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. has provided the latest word on an issue that many have described as "interoperability," and it comes at a time when lawmakers around the world are debating a policy called "interoperability" with respect to majorInternetplatforms. At first glance, these two similarly named policy conversations copyright protection of software interfaces and interconnection among competing Internet platforms, respectively have little to do with each other. Yet they are vitally intertwined: the activities and issues featured in Google are so closely linked to the questions of digital competition that interoperability reforms directed to the latter cannot be achieved effectively without also addressing the former.

This close tie between two aspects of interoperability has a perhaps surprising implication: Congress can and should expand upon the recent Google decision as part of its larger efforts to induce competition in the social media and major technology platform markets. Barriers to replication of software interfaces, such as copyrights in Google, can stymie the robustly competitive digital landscape that lawmakers hope to achieve through interoperability legislation. Drawing from history and current policy, this Article proposes ways that Congress can respond to the Google decision, ranging from developing copyright-free government standards to revising the Copyright Act.

Recommended Citation

Charles Duan, A Tale of Two Interoperabilities; or, How Google v. Oracle Could Become Social Media Legislation, Cardozo Law Review 246 (2021).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/2175