Google Wins Fair Use Case, New Texas Broadband Authority, Vetro Cares For Maine, ADTRAN Hire

April 5, 2021—The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Google on Monday morning in a copyright dispute that has spanned more than a decade, setting precedent for the fair use of programming.

In a 6-2 decision (the case was heard before Justice Amy Coney Barrett had been confirmed), the Supreme Court agreed with Google’s argument that their use of some 12,000 lines of code was protected by fair use and rejected Oracle’s argument that they were owed monies by Google.

Google argued that they used only what was necessary to craft a “new and transformative program.”

A fair use defense stipulates that that which is produced must add something of value, whether that is commentary in the context of media, or the provision of fundamentally new aspects in the context of software.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the majority opinion and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, and Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Clarence Thomas penned the dissent and was joined by Justice Samuel Alito. Thomas argued that Google’s use of the code “was anything but fair.”

Texas aims to address lack of broadband

Texas’s senate passed a bill that would establish a state broadband development office with a goal of implementing a broadband plan within the next year.

Senate Bill 5, which passed the senate unanimously on March 31 and awaits final signing by Governor Greg Abbott, would allow for technology-neutral deployment of broadband infrastructure to underserved areas of the state, with the goal of statewide coverage. To do this, the office will identify barriers to deployment, study the benefits of statewide access to broadband, and track the progress of broadband implementation.

The plan will include the appointment of 17 experts and representatives, all of whom would be selected by the governor, with two exceptions: one member of the house of representatives will be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, and one state senator will be appointed by the lieutenant governor.

The experts appointed to this office would represent various sectors of the economy, ranging from hospitality, public health, and broadband service providers.

In a press release from his office, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick committed to his goal of shrinking the digital divide and stated that Senate Bill 5 would benefit all of Texas’ economy and overall standard of living.

Vetro Cares for Maine expands

Vetro last week ushered in its second round of participants into its Vetro Cares for Maine program, which provides broadband mapping software that allows for planning, projecting trends, and other analytics.

The program gives participants a six-month subscription to the Vetro Fibermap and the training and support necessary to use it.

The Town of Rome, the Town of Northport, Greater East Grand Region Broadband, Mount Desert, Southwest Waldo County Broadband Coalition, Mid-Coast Internet Coalition, and the Town of Sebago are the most recent entities to join the Vetro Cares for Maine program.

Vetro says the transparent nature of the software will allow for greater accountability as data is more easily able to flow between ISPs and the state they are operating in.

Todd Gandy joins ADTRAN

Telecommunications equipment provider ADTRAN announced that it has hired industry veteran Todd Gandy, who will work on expanding the companies reach into government agencies.

“ADTRAN has a short line of communication to these agencies to better understand their challenges and find the right solutions needed to address them,” Gandy said in a statement.

Adtran’s federal sales team will continue to focus on campus solutions, using both fixed wireless and fiber delivery methods to provide gigabit speeds and remove dependencies on existing infrastructure, it said.