Oracle Loses its Lawsuit Against Android

[AnotherJoe]

Oracle has lost its courtcase against Google over its use of Java in Android.

Throught the whole trial the only parts Google found to have use were 9 lines of code in a rangecheck method that were included by mistake, and some testclasses that were never actually part of any Android distribution.

The only outstanding issue is whether the court rules that API's are copyrightable - but the court is expected to follow an earlier ruling by the European court that they are not.

Oracle has made themselves look like a bunch of idiots - and what started as a legal campaign to crush Android by Larry Ellison on behalf of his friend Steve Jobs has come crashing down around their ears.

 

[scene]

Unfortunately litigation to protect software copyright and patents from perceived abuse seems to be the way of the world and when someone else uses it against a big player they either declare that they are a patent troll or argue for FRAND rights so they can avoid large royalties. They also protect themselves by buying huge numbers of patents to use in the software and hardware arms race. Ho hum.
Personally I don't believe Mr Ellison was after Google because of Apple, but rather to try to extract value from Oracle's purchase of Sun.

 

[AnotherJoe]

Update:

Oracle has now lost completely. The judge has ruled (as was only logical) that API's are not copyrightable.

Every developer on the planet could have told you that - but no Oracle insisted on spending millions in lawyer fews and behind made to look like a bunch of idiots.

If API's had been rules copyrightable then almost every program ever written could have become the subject of lawsuits, and innovation would have ground to a complete standstill.