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Aug

12

2010

Oracle sues Google: Android violates Java copyrights

10

by Chris Moor
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Oracle Corp. said Thursday that it will be suing Google claiming that their Android OS infringed on intellectual property of Oracles Java Platform.

Google is no stranger to lawsuits. The most recent lawsuit being Viacom’s billion-dollar lawsuit against YouTube/Google claiming YouTube infringed on its copyrights and knowingly allowed offending content to remain on its site. A federal judge sided and ruled in favor with YouTube. Viacom has filed an appeal.

Oracle is claiming that Google also knowingly violated Java patent and copyright protection. Oracle and Google were not immediately available for comment.

According to MSNBC, Oracle is seeking an injunction to stop Google from further building and distributing Android plus higher monetary damages for willful and deliberate infringement.

Oracle acquired the java software with a $5.6 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc. back in April 2009.

[via WallStreetJournal]

» See more articles by Chris Moor

Categorized as Android News, Google News

Comments

  • Matthew Clement

    I knew it was bad news when Oracle bought Java. I’m a Java Developer and this is stupid. How exactly is Android going to hurt Oracle? They should be happy the platform is developed in THEIR language.

  • Terran

    Strange they waited until now to file a suit. Now Android is taking off, they’re probably jealous.

  • http://www.twitter.com/sheanz Sean Brantley

    I completely agree. Maybe Oracle is looking for acknowledgment or notoriety regarding their “patents” in Android. I don’t see how this hurts Oracle, but it’s clear that they’re potentially missing out on millions.

    I would be happy if a platform as successful as Android was developed in my language. Then again after recent news on the success of Android, I can see the reason they are fuming. It will be interesting how this will all play out.

  • ari-free

    Android is the best thing to happen to java. If it wasn’t for android, everyone would be using Objective C or C#

  • Howie_in_AZ

    Guys, I think you’re all missing the point: Google had an opportunity to license and use Java proper but they decided to use a nonstandard JVM called Dalvik so they could avoid licensing fees (and possibly royalties). Dalvik is not compatible with other JVMs; one cannot take a normal .class file and run it as-is on a Dalvik platform like Android. Likewise, one cannot take a .dex file that the Dalvik VM uses and run it as-is on a normal JVM. These incompatibilities go against the “write once run anywhere” nature of Java.

  • kyle k

    This is a joke. All the companies out there that are fighting with each other just gotta stop. With all the lawsuits being filed right now it is just going to halt mobile development. If these lawsuits are upheld then no company (Google, Apple, Oracle, etc) will me able to create anything. Android is the best thing that happened to mobile technology in years and now everyone wants a piece of the pie. Oracle just needs to be happy that Google choose to base, and I stress, base their mobile os off their technology. As Howie_in_AZ stated they used an open source Java like programming method. If Oracle wants their name hidden in a link in the settings menu that NO ONE reads, then they might as well just ask Google, not try and halt the development of the most promiseing OPEN SOURCE operating system to date. The Android community needs to unite and make it clear that we are here to stay. I have long stood by google, from the day I got my invite to the beta of Gmail to now being registered with almost every program they offer. Google is here to stay, Android is here to stay. We as the consumer and Android/Google community (dare I say generation) need to make our stand and do all we can to make sure no one stops the genius that is Google. We are loud, we are proud, WE ARE ANDROID.

  • http://www.twitter.com/sheanz Sean Brantley

    Inspiring comment, Kyle. It’s just another day in America. We will always have lawsuits. With or without merit.

  • ian

    Wasn’t java relicensed under gpl?

  • Howie_in_AZ

    @Kyle: Um, you’re still missing the point. If Google had used Java proper this would be a non-issue. They did not, instead opting to create a non-standard VM that breaks compatibility with the rest of the Java platform and violates one of Java’s core tenets: write once run anywhere. Re-read that a few times and note that it’s not “write once, compile and then run anywhere”. Recall that Microsoft attempted to add features/classes to Java that were only supported under Windows, and note that Sun came down hard on them (rightfully so) because it violated the cross-platform nature of Java and therefore could not be written once and ran anywhere.

    This is not an “us versus them” situation. This is not a cry to unite against some random corporation (note, too, that Google is a large corporation concerned with their bottom line). This is about one company not wanting to pay licensing fees and/or royalties to another company for their ideas and finding a potential loophole to let them do exactly that.

    I imagine Oracle/Sun’s problem is that Android/Dalvik could fork Java, something that tech writers have talked about for some time. This would be Very Bad for the Java platform as a whole. Frankly I’m surprised Oracle/Sun let it go on for this long.

  • Ed

    Oracle is a stupid company only to try and steal money from google… Those fuckin idiots better grow up and deal with google android being better then them