Roger Fingas
Putting an end to a contentious trial, a jury on Thursday found that Google's implementation of 37 Java APIs in Android represented fair use — rebuffing complaints by Java's nominal owner, Oracle.
A Google spokesperson called the ruling a "win for the Android ecosystem, for the Java programming community, and for software developers who rely on open and free programming languages to build innovative consumer products," according to TechCrunch. While Oracle sometimes licenses Java for commercial products, Google argued that it was exempt under fair use terms, because it transformed the code into a new product — in this case, Android.
Oracle has already indicated it will file an appeal in the case, which dates back to 2010. "We strongly believe that Google developed Android by illegally copying core Java technology to rush into the mobile device market," said Oracle general counsel Dorian Daley.
A decision in Oracle's favor could potentially have deterred developers from tapping into third-party programming languages, something that's common practice. At the same time, some developers do rely on licensing APIs for income, necessitating protection.
Apple also famously claimed that Google stole to create Android, which resulted in a flurry of patent lawsuits, primarily against Samsung, its main competition in the phone and tablet space. These battles have largely been resolved, but the U.S. Supreme Court should soon hear a Samsung appeal of a $548 million verdict in Apple's favor. Samsung is looking to reduce the amount of money it may owe.
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61 Comments
Crime pays.
This ain't over by a long-shot. The judge, after being thoroughly rebuffed by the appeals court, went out of his way to steer the jury to this ruling. Hell, the 20+ minutes of jury instructions, and the constant announcement that everything would be over should they find for Google on the fair use portion gave the jury the very incentive to rule as they did. The judge allowed too much info to be kept from the jury that was favorable to Oracle in its appeal. This may -- and probably should -- lead to another successful appeal by Oracle.
We knew this was coming. Aslup is biased (and pissed the Appeals Court reversed his previous decision) so he made sure to inject his bias into this trial (namely the jury instructions).
Oracle will have to appeal again (and win again) before this gets settled.
It's about time one of these thieving companies got their comeuppance.