Google wants Oracle copyright trial rematch

May 09, 2012
Jurors this week ruled that Google's Android operating system for smartphones violated Java software copyrights Enlarge
The Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. Google on Wednesday confirmed that it wants a new trial on the copyright portion of a legal battle being fought with Oracle in San Francisco federal court.

Google on Wednesday confirmed that it wants a new trial on the copyright portion of a legal battle being fought with Oracle in San Francisco federal court.

Jurors this week ruled that Google's Android for smartphones violated Java software copyrights but deadlocked when it came to the pivotal question of whether it constituted "fair use" that made it acceptable.

If Google's use of copyrighted Java application programming interfaces (APIs) in Android was fair use, Oracle would deserve no damages from the Mountain View, California-based Internet firm under the law.

Google late Tuesday filed a motion asking US William Alsup to declare a mistrial in the copyright phase of the trial and have both questions presented to a new jury in a retrial.

Alsup on Wednesday was presiding over a second phase of the trial devoted to claims by Oracle that Google violated Java patents in Android software.

Oracle's challenge of Google in court over copyrights was an unusual tactic being watched intently in Silicon Valley Enlarge
The Oracle Corp. logo is displayed at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco in 2010. Google on Wednesday confirmed that it wants a new trial on the copyright portion of a legal battle being fought with Oracle in San Francisco federal court.

Adding to the complexity of the case, Alsup has gone on record reserving the right to make the ultimate decision whether APIs can even be copyrighted. The judge told jurors to assume so for the sake of deliberations.

Oracle lawyers are proposing that both sides in the case leave the "fair use" question to Alsup rather than have a new trial.

Oracle's challenge of Google in court over copyrights was an unusual tactic being watched intently in .

In the fast-paced land of Internet innovation, it has been common for software writers to put their own spins on APIs that mini-programs use to "talk" to one another.

The jury concluded that Google infringed on 37 copyrighted APIs but it also agreed that Google demonstrated that it was led to believe it did not need a license for using Java.

Oracle accused Google of infringing on Java patents and copyrights Oracle obtained when it bought Java inventor in a $7.4 billion deal in 2009.

has denied the claims and said it believes mobile phone makers and other users of its open-source Android operating system are entitled to use the technology in dispute.

The Internet titan unveiled the free Android operating system two years before Oracle bought Sun.

Explore further: US report urges action on 'unprecedented' IP theft

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User comments : 2

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baudrunner
not rated yet May 10, 2012
They give you the class API's, then the Javadocs with usage examples to boot, so you can write your own programs using the Java coding protocols, even letting the IDE code half the complex portions itself - a recommended practice to ensure the integrity of the final product. But wait, that pulls in the Java API's for those complex classes, and now all of a sudden I don't want to continue coding because I might get sued by Oracle? What gives? Is Oracle using "Open Source" as a baiting tactic to take money away from developers when they produce a lucrative software application?

Are all those Java scripts and Java programs now ubiquitous on our boxes in violation of some copyright?

I think we need Oracle to specifically describe which API's we cannot use to develop our software, and why.
kaasinees
not rated yet May 10, 2012
Oracle has no say over this, because at the time it was allowed and not Sun that not go to court with it.
So you could say that Google has the right to.
Also Oracle is being a patent/IP troll. They know they are going to fail so they are going after open source companies, android being a very big one with a lot of money, just wait until they go after libreoffice. And maybe even linux. And second of all reverse engineering has never been illegal as far as i know, they wrote the code themselves so they didnt copy anything other than the class names etc.

Please dont let them win.

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