The article mentions that Google faced some tough questions on their merger doctrine argument (that because there was only one way to implement the declaring co

The article mentions that Google faced some tough questions on their merger doctrine argument (that because there was only one way to implement the declaring code Oracle can’t preclude Google from reusing it) but it doesn’t really mention the fact that Oracle faced much tougher questioning on their procedural argument that the Federal Circuit correctly overturned the district court jury decision. Listening to the oral arguments I have a hard time counting to 5 either way on the issue of API copyright and Google’s merger doctrine argument, but I think it’s quite likely that there are 5 votes to send the case back to the Federal Circuit with instructions to take another look at fair use. Essentially, the district court jury found in favor of Google on fair use and the Federal Circuit set that verdict aside on the grounds that no reasonable person could conclude there was fair use. None of the justices sounded happy about that.