Software Giants Oracle and Google are in a battle for patent and copyrights violation. Oracle sued Google for the same in August 2010.
Latest news in this regard reveal that the war has not yet reached a consensus stage and it will further deepen. Database Leader Oracle sued Google, the Search Engine Leader over their use of programming language Java as a basis for developing the Android operating System for mobiles.
Whenever there is a new development, in this case, it’s hitting the news headlines. Oracle is seeking a compensation amount of $9.3 billion from Google. This said figure amounts to about double of Google’s Alphabet operating profit for the year 2015 as per the PC World reports. There are also some indications that the claim may be liable for around $100 million for violations.
Looking into the history of the case, Google developed an environment for Mobiles Operating system – Android called Dalvik. Presently, Dalvik itself is compatible with Java, but it was developed independently by Google, without the use of any actual code from Oracle, the current owners of Java.
Initially, Google was engaged in the negotiations with Oracle regarding licensing for Android. But they did not succeed and Oracle sued Google for the same in August 2010.
Oracle claims that Google broke the law of patents and copyrights related to Java in several instances. Google argues that even if it did violate the Oracle’s copyright law, it was covered under the “fair use” policy of the Java language which does not require any kind of permission from the original copyright holder.
Google used Java’s Application Program Interface (API) for developing Android which is not covered by copyright law. But, Oracle conflicts with this and insists that the “structure, sequence and organization” of the Java API was unique and copyrightable.
Earlier In 2012, a jury ruled that Google had in fact violated Oracle’s copyright law with respect to the Java API’s, but it could not come to the conclusion whether the violation was covered by fair use or not.
Google went against the ruling and pushed for a retrial after this hearing. A separate trial was taken up and resulted in a ruling in Google’s favor.
A further retrial came in Oracle’s favor. Google’s counter-filing is not available for perusal yet.
As things stand still, the decision as to whether Google’s violation of Oracle’s patent and copyright is covered under fair usage law or not is pending. This trial will again figure on 9th May 2016.
The impact of this case’s result will have a major effect on software patents and licensing rights world over. This gains the importance and the need to be watched for the final verdict.