Google v. Oracle and The Future of Digital Health
The following editorial is updated commentary originally published at RCH as part of a virtual symposium on the Google v. Oracle case and its impact on medical progress.
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) opens its new term, without Justice Thomas – who is ill – and with the Amy Coney Barrett nomination moving through the Senate.
First up, the Court will hear oral arguments in the Google v. Oracle case – “a potentially $9 billion copyright case that’s been a decade in the making, including a several month delay after the Supreme Court pushed the case off the docket last term as a result of the pandemic.” With its decision, SCOTUS will ”establish a copyright precedent that will impact much more than the tech ecosystem.”
The facts of the case are straight forward: the two tech firms are in dispute over the intellectual property rights to Java. Oracle owns the popular software program. Google failed to secure a license with Oracle to use Java in its products. Claiming “fair use” Google then took large portions of the copyrighted program’s code for its own use.
Google’s interpretation of fair use is outrageously outside the norm. If the copyright infringement is left to stand, future innovation in myriad sectors, including heath care, will be jeopardized.
If SCOTUS decides for Google, its ruling will be devasting to the future of digital-health, including telehealth and new technologies critical to fight Coronavirus-type pandemics. If Google’s copyright infringement stands, future medical progress will be impeded.
The principle of Intellectual property rights (IPR) is a pre-requisite to health care innovation. However, for Silicon Valley IPR is valued on a sliding scale. Big Tech firms with endless resources, like Google, can litigate over IPR infractions until it no longer sees the utility in litigating. On the contrary, health care innovators can ill afford such an indulgence – without firm rules and laws around IPR, medical progress is impossible.
The future of health care innovation will include codes and programming, not just pills and therapies. In health care, the intellectual property discussion is usually in the context of patents. However, future innovations, such as digital tools, health and fitness apps, and video-game prescriptions – hinge on copyright
Using digital tools to upgrade the practice of medicine is critical to advancing Twenty-First Century health care. Digitized data, biosensors, new imaging tools, mobile device laboratory capabilities, end-to-end digital clinical trials, telemedicine, video game therapies, and other developing technologies depend on Intellectual Property Rights, including copyright.
The right medicine, treatment, therapy, and technology for the right patient at the right time – i.e., the future of medical innovation – hangs on strong IPR protection.
Jerry Rogers is the editor of RealClearHealth and the host of the ‘Jerry Rogers Show’ on WBAL NewsRadio.
