Oracle sues Google over Android

August 12, 2010 | Anthony Ha

larry-ellison Oracle announced today that it has filed suit against Google for alleged patent and copyright infringement.

The business software giant headed by Larry Ellison (pictured) said that the suit concerns intellectual property related to the Java programming language, which Oracle purchased through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems. In a press release, Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said, “In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property.”

I’ve embedded a copy of Oracle’s complaint below, which includes more details about the company’s allegations. From the complaint: “Google’s Android competes with Oracle America’s Java as an operating system software platform for cellular telephones and other mobile devices. … Google has been aware of Sun’s patent portfolio, including the patents at issue, since the middle of this decade, since Google hired certain former Sun Java engineers.”

A Google spokesman told me that the company hasn’t been served with the complaint yet, so it can’t comment. There’s a good chance that Oracle raised the issue with Google before filing suit, so it may be worth quoting the boilerplate language in Google’s latest earnings report about how Google is involved in legal claims “from time to time,” but that the company believes “the resolution of our current pending matters will not have a material adverse effect on our business.”

[via Business Insider]

Oracle Google Complaint http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf

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Tags: Android, Java

About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GPJ7BY7U24XWWG56D7AIZ7TPDA Nickname

Google about Android Java and the Oracle lawsuit. “OOPS”
http://twitter.com/hummerabi hummerabi

if I ever need a badass lawyer I'd hire the “mofo.com” guys
http://twitter.com/carlosmonteiro carlos monteiro

Oracle sues Google over Java in Android. Wouldn't Apple be happy?
http://twitter.com/JayMonster JayMonster

Just give Ellison his couple of Million for a license agreement and tell him to go crawl back under the rock.
http://twitter.com/emdz Algenis

I believe google will win this case, and in the end wont have to pay royalties, From what i know, Java is open source, up to the point where you make money off it by using it. Sadly, google doesnt make money off its android operating system, nor the development tools. Where they do make money would be in the App Market, and its other services which are then bundled onto the phones but i would think they pay their royalties there.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OK42M52VJS2OAKNLPPQJ2YRJLU Tweedle

Open Source doesn't negate patents, nor does “open source” mean you can do “anything” you want with it. Nor does it negate the inducement on Google's behalf to get developers to write Java code to be consumed by DalvekVM (even if the VM itself does not violate any IP).
http://twitter.com/emdz Algenis

understood, we'll have to see how it develops.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y4BRERYKGHSXATZVSEGAV7ONOY ibantxuyn

Oracle = crazy guys :
http://twitter.com/jefmes Jeff Messer

I really, really want to see the details of those specific patents and figure out how the hell Oracle can claim infringement. Android is OUT THERE. For FREE. I'm no expert by any means on the GPL, Apache, and other public licenses but like others have mentioned I don't get how Google could have infringed on something that everyone believed was opened for use. I already didn't like the way Oracle does business, and now regardless of the merits of suit, I frikking loathe them.
http://rcl.livejournal.com/ RCL

I really, really hope that Google will ditch that bullshit and patent-tainted language that makes development too high-level and boring and will stick to C/C++ (NDK) instead. Then I will consider developing for Android.
royalindia

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http://twitter.com/edwardborland Edward Borland

Oracle sues Google over Java in Android. What a waste of energy. You wont grow the US economy just paying lawyers. Larry was Steve Jobs' wedding photographer. Time to innovate guys.
PeterA650

Actually, he should just go sailing and never come back.
http://twitter.com/CazaCero RenatoSalinasCouchot

Creo que Oracle esta tratando de contar las estrellas para saber cuantas les pertenecen…eso sera imposible!!!
http://twitter.com/CazaCero RenatoSalinasCouchot

Creo que Oracle esta tratando de contar las estrellas para saber cuantas les pertenecen…eso sera imposible!!!
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