Oracle has filed a patent and copyright infringement suit against Google.
Oracle yesterday released a short but sweet press release announcing that it was taking legal action against Google in relation to alleged copyright and patent infringements involving Android and Java.
"In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property," said Oracle spokesperson Karen Tillman. "This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement."
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that Google is using Java-derived technologies without proper licensing and as such, claims that Android, and any device running Android, infringes upon one or more of seven patents owned by Oracle. CNet reports that Oracle acquired the patents in question when it bought Sun Microsystems in April of last year.
The suit also points out that Google must have been aware of Sun's patents because the CEO of the search giant, Eric Schmidt, led the team that developed Java at Sun prior to taking on the roll of CEO at Novell.
"Google has been aware of Sun's patent portfolio, including the patents at issue, since the middle of this decade, when Google hired certain former Sun Java engineers," CNet quotes from the suit.
Google says it has not yet been served with the lawsuit, and couldn't comment until it had had time to review it.
Am I basing this opinion on any kind of available evidence? No. I just can't stand Google anymore. Fcuk them. And fcuk Oracle too, while I'm at it.
sweet?... really?
Jane must be hating Google/Android sooo much...
IMO, Oracle can take their lawsuit and shove it where the Sun don't shine (pun intended).
Nope, I love my Nexus One and Froyo to boot.
I meant 'short and sweet' as in 'to the point.'
I too can't stand Google beyond their mail and search engine but is it just me or does Oracle seem like a bunch of hypocryts?
They release OpenOffice, a open source free program that utilizes backdoor ways to open, edit and run MS Office files yet they set waiting to sue for patent infringement.......
Yea....
Our society is based on capitalism. Open source will never be more than a curious experiment as long as the latter holds true. None of the heavy hitters will ever go open source. Not saying I agree with it, just how it is and will be for a long time.
Rambus is a double edged sword. They invented all this great technology then failed miserably at implementing it. Does Rambus even have any products or are they just solely collecting license and royalty fees now?
In my view, their needs to be a movement to not allow patents to be transferable.
offtopic:I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but society is no longer based on capitalism. Now it's what some people call Corporatism and Monetarism, where corporations and banks hold all the power.
Also, another thing relating to the patent system is that when someone gets hired by a company most of the times they make you sign a contract stating that if the employee invents something while working for that company, then the company will hold the patent and not the individual. If an individual or a group of individuals would hold the patent, then the whole system would be much better. And that's why you never hear about an individual suing another individual or a company.
Quite the contrary, I guess more and more people and companies will hide for the large corporate patent trolls in open-source and clear, unrestrictive licenses.