Google's Chief Java Architect admits that he copied Sun code into Android
One of Oracle's allegations of direct copying of code from the Java codebase into Android is a function that is in the Arrays class of Java and resurfaced in the Android TimSort class. The following image (click to enlarge) shows a line-by-line comparison of the two code segments -- it's fair to say they're simply identical.
"Q. BY MR. JACOBS: Do you have a recollection of accessing Sun code while you were working on TimSort?
A. I don't have a recollection, but I'm perfectly willing to believe that I did. You know, I think the similarity of the signature, the fact that, you know, the three arguments are in the same order and have the same name, you know, is a strong indication that it is likely that I did."
http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011...ts-strong.html
"Q. BY MR. JACOBS: Do you have a recollection of accessing Sun code while you were working on TimSort?
A. I don't have a recollection, but I'm perfectly willing to believe that I did. You know, I think the similarity of the signature, the fact that, you know, the three arguments are in the same order and have the same name, you know, is a strong indication that it is likely that I did."
http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011...ts-strong.html
Comments
I don't have a recollection, but I'm perfectly willing to believe that I did.
A simple 'yes' would suffice Google, don't waste the court's time. The copied code actually looks quite small but I guess the key point would be if this code is unique and is implemented exactly the same, then it's a copy/paste job. It's hard to avoid if you have a product with millions of lines of code to ensure that every part is entirely unique.
The worst that would happen here is they change the offending code. Android is too big to fail now.
The worst that would happen here is they change the offending code. Android is too big to fail now.
Actually it's not that simple. This evidence, together with Andy Rubin and Another Google engineer's email are very strong evidence that Google willfully infringed on Oracle's (Sun's) patents. Punitive damages can be assessed up to three times the actual damages.