Answer
The Sketch team has confirmed that all online parts of the Sketch service will be discontinued from 30 September 2019. This means that any syncing, sticker downloads or community functionality will stop working. The app is often pre-installed on Xperia phones and many people loved it as a casual drawing tool.
The Sony Sketch Legacy
The California Appellate Court has overturned a District Court’s decision in favor of Google, leaving the case back with the lower court to debate sketchiness.
In 2008, Google released its SketchUp software (free) for 3D modeling. In 2009 and 2010, Google added way-finding/navigational capabilities to SketchUp via their newly acquired Trimble Navigation . At some point prior or post-acquisition, Google provided data on business locations provided by Yelp to users of the service SketchUp includes. A group of businesses filed a class action suit against Google alleging that use of such navigational aids constituted a trespass under California law and asking for an injunction preventing further use. What was the ruling?
A district court ruled that the service was legal and granted an injunction pending appeal. A group of business owners appealed to the CA Court of Appeals arguing that the lower court erred in finding non-infringement, intentional trespass, and failure to consider a balancing test.
Appellate Opinion The appellate court found that it lacked jurisdiction since there was no evidence of “harm” or irreparable harm to businesses stemming from continued use of Yelp data for navigational purposes. All three claims were rejected, but only because they were moot by virtue of a change is Google’s software prior to trial—the case is now back with the lower court on remand to determine if there was any harm as a result of Google’s original use of Yelp data.
Sony sketch is shuting down
Impact on you: The appellate court’s decision did not rule against Google. It merely found that the claims were moot because there was no evidence of harm to businesses as a result of the use of Yelp data by Google for navigational purposes. A change in software prior to trial rendered any alleged harm irrelevant and, thus, moot. If it turns out that some customers avoided certain businesses based on the location-based information provided in SketchUp, then plaintiffs may prevail upon remand if they can produce admissible evidence of such harm caused by Google’s original utilization of Yelp’s business locations. This ruling will probably evaporate into nothingness along with my interest in this topic when it hits the lower court—but I wanted to at least write this one up because it is an interesting and rare case.
This feels like a rehearing of the Oracle v Google (and others) API copyright trial to me – the only difference seems to be that data was used in 3D, rather than 2D. I don’t know if there’s any particular reason why we should anticipate different outcomes from both courts or not, but even so it will be very interesting to see how this plays out over time. As these APIs become more ubiquitous (e.g., G+), and when mashup/composite software becomes more common, we’ll probably start seeing a lot more cases like these.
I am just glad to hear that Google won this case, because I use SketchUp pretty frequently and I depend on the navigational information provided by Yelp for a variety of things. Now it looks like I can continue doing so without fear of being sued. Thanks!
AFAIK, the basis for the ruling was mootness due to software change… nothing about any merits or positions from either side. Summary article here:
@Anonymous- The article clearly states that the appellate court found no evidence of any harm to businesses as a result of Google’s use of Yelp data for navigational purposes, so why do you say it ‘looks like’ you can continue doing so? It sounds to me like the court ruled against plaintiffs on all counts, which is good news for Google and its users.
The ruling declares that there was no evidence showing when did Google stop its use of Yelp’s data. Even if the business owners could prove that they suffered damages as a result of Google’s conduct, I don’t know why they should have standing to bring this action in the first place. The plaintiff was not a licensee of Yelp’s database (or it didn’t claim to be), and was not harmed because of anything in that contract with Google or Yelp–it seems like plaintiffs are attempting to profit from their supposed license for free data which is absurd. I also take issue with the Court saying that merely because a hypothetical customer might choose not to patronize an establishment based on his view from street level, there must be some sort of monetary harm resulting from Google’s use of search engine functionality when displayed.
The Sketch team has confirmed that all online parts of the Sketch service will be discontinued from 30 September 2019. This means that any syncing, sticker downloads or community functionality will stop working. The app is often pre-installed on Xperia phones and many people loved it as a casual drawing tool.
With the long-awaited release of Sony Sketch for iPad, it now means that Sony has abandoned Sketch for good. Users will have to use it on their iPads or join another app like Paintology.
He currently goes by the name Sketch and was a part of the channel “SubZeroExtabyte” where they created Minecraft animations. Later on, he left the channel for a few years and came back.
Sketch is a photo-editing app with everything you need to transform your pictures into interesting compositions or create finished artwork from scratch.
TanqR was the runner-up in last week’s giveaway. Denis lost to Kindly Keyin, while KreekCraft and Sketch followed behind third and fourth respectively.