The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether Oracle can copyright some of the most well-known software codes in the industry. In October, the court heard oral argument in Google v. Oracle America, a case that is being closely watched by the software industry.

Java is one of the most common programming languages. Java's application programming interfaces (APIs) contain lines of prewritten code that developers put into their own software; the APIs tell the software how to interact and transfer data between it and Java-based applications. APIs operate as a bridge between two applications that tell incoming and outgoing data how to interact and transfer data between the two. In any given software project, there are tens of thousands of APIs. While Java APIs are common, there are hundreds of other APIs and programming languages. Typically, APIs are built and maintained by the company that is providing access to its software or data.