A U.S. jury handed Alphabet's Google a major victory on Thursday in a long-running copyright lawsuit against Oracle, saying the law allowed Google's use of Oracle's software to create its Android smartphone operating system.

Shares of Oracle were down about 1 percent after hours. Alphabet stock was up slightly after the announcement.

The jury unanimously upheld claims by Google that its use of Oracle's Java development platform was protected under the fair-use provision of copyright law, bringing trial to a close without Oracle winning any of the $9 billion in damages it requested.

After the ruling, Dorian Daley, general counsel for Oracle said that the company will appeal.

"We strongly believe that Google developed Android by illegally copying core Java technology to rush into the mobile device market," he said.

