Jury finds Google Android didn't violate Oracle's patents

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A 10-person federal jury has found unanimously that Google didn't infringe on Oracle's patents when developing the Android mobile operating system.

The jury's ruling was issued on Wednesday in a San Francisco courtroom, according to Bloomberg. Because Google was not found to be infringing upon Oracle's patents, the jury was immediately dismissed and the third phase of the trial, which would have dealt with damages, was canceled.

Oracle has sought $1 billion in damages for intellectual property theft, and argued in court that Google violated two patented inventions from the Java programming language when it developed the Android platform. The jury previously determined two weeks ago that Google did infringe on Oracle's Java copyrights by using nine lines of rangeCheck, but couldn't agree on whether that was considered "fair use."

Judge William Alsup must still rule on whether the previous infringement found by the jury is valid, as there is a question as to whether the Java application programming interfaces can be copyrighted. The Verge said it is unknown when the judge will make his final decision on the issue, though he does plan to take off the next two days for personal reasons.

If Alsup determines that the structure, sequence and organization of 37 Java APIs are not covered under copyright law, Oracle will receive statutory damages at a maximum of $150,000 per count. But if they are covered under copyright, all three infringement counts found by the jury would be bundled together to be addressed with a new trial, or in appeals court.

Oracle signaled on Wednesday that it plans to continue its legal assault against Google regardless of Wednesday's decision. The company said it presented "overwhelming evidence" in the trial to show that Google "knew it would fragment and damage Java."

"We plan to continue to defend and uphold Java's core write once run anywhere principle and ensure it is protected for the nine million Java developers and the community that depend on Java compatibility," Oracle's statement reads.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 177
    daharderdaharder Posts: 1,580member
    Likely just one of many, many victories in store for Google this year (and beyond).
  • Reply 2 of 177
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member


    Sounds like the jury of the USFL just moved from football to tech!


    /


    /


    /

  • Reply 3 of 177


    wut

  • Reply 4 of 177


    While this will be appealed upon appeal, it does seem for what was originally supposed to be biggest storm for Android, it may not even get overcast. Heh.

  • Reply 5 of 177
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin

  • Reply 6 of 177
    pedromartinspedromartins Posts: 1,333member


    it's better this way...


     


    everyone (besides oracle) wins with an healthy android, even we, apple users.


    personally i only care about what i use, and if there's a way to make better tech (i don't care about who sues who, really. they are huge companies..) i'm all for it.


    now let's hope they push apple to it's limits so we can get amazing products and not another "windows era".


     


    apple is suffocating them... really. it's not healthy.

  • Reply 7 of 177
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pedromartins View Post

    everyone (besides oracle) wins with an healthy android, even we, apple users.




    No, a dead Android and a proper third OS as a replacement means everyone wins. 

  • Reply 8 of 177
    fredaroonyfredaroony Posts: 619member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pedromartins View Post


    it's better this way...


     


    everyone (besides oracle) wins with an healthy android, even we, apple users.


    personally i only care about what i use, and if there's a way to make better tech (i don't care about who sues who, really. they are huge companies..) i'm all for it.


    now let's hope they push apple to it's limits so we can get amazing products and not another "windows era".


     


    apple is suffocating them... really. it's not healthy.



    I totally agree, I hate all this fanboy shit and just use whatever is the best at the time. I went from a iPhone to Android because it suits me better at the moment but I will certainly look at iOS6 and the new iPhone when it comes out.

  • Reply 9 of 177
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post




    No, a dead Android and a proper third OS as a replacement means everyone wins. 



    I agree.



    No surprise that the fandroids came out to infest this thread.  Small victory for Google, but they are so not out of the woods yet.



    Android is a sham of a system.  Get real competition into the marketplace.  Not some botched copy of iOS.  WebOS, Win8, etc... at least they had the guts to make a go of it.  

  • Reply 10 of 177
    fredaroonyfredaroony Posts: 619member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post


    I agree.



    No surprise that the fandroids came out to infest this thread.  Small victory for Google, but they are so not out of the woods yet.



    Android is a sham of a system.  Get real competition into the marketplace.  Not some botched copy of iOS.  WebOS, Win8, etc... at least they had the guts to make a go of it.  



    Have you actually used a Android device at length or are you just talking out of your arse? I would expect the latter...


     


    Every OS has good and bad points but to label anything as a "sham of a system" just makes you look stupid.

  • Reply 11 of 177

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post


    I agree.



    No surprise that the fandroids came out to infest this thread.  Small victory for Google, but they are so not out of the woods yet.



    Android is a sham of a system.  Get real competition into the marketplace.  Not some botched copy of iOS.  WebOS, Win8, etc... at least they had the guts to make a go of it.  



    Android doesn't look anywhere near iOS or the feel of a crappy iOS product. This is because Android is OPEN for changes all the time from it's users to make the OS better from one release after another. Don't say Apple doesn't copy from other OS' innovations..

  • Reply 12 of 177

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pedromartins View Post


    it's better this way...


     


    everyone (besides oracle) wins with an healthy android, even we, apple users.


    personally i only care about what i use, and if there's a way to make better tech (i don't care about who sues who, really. they are huge companies..) i'm all for it.


    now let's hope they push apple to it's limits so we can get amazing products and not another "windows era".


     


    apple is suffocating them... really. it's not healthy.



     


    I agree -- but this is a surprising decision.


     


    Google violated Oracle's JAVA almost in the exact way that Microsoft did with "embrace and extend" -- so this isn't even following prior case law -- it does a 180. Maybe their are "legal" loopholes or differences in the way Google managed to make JAVA only work on their platform for what Android is doing. 


     


    Overall, it's better that we have a competitor to iOS -- but it seems that Google has been miraculously lucky making a knockoff of the iPhone while basing an OS on a platform they treated as their own proprietary one. That was a surprise to me.

  • Reply 13 of 177
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AndroidUser View Post

    Android doesn't look anywhere near iOS or the feel of a crappy iOS product. This is because Android is OPEN for changes all the time from it's users to make the OS better from one release after another. 


     


    So before I report you for being a troll account, could you clarify a few things?


     


    First, "crappy iOS product". You're going to have to write a three page essay, single spaced, for anyone to believe you're not a troll after saying that and leaving it as such.


     


    Second, Android isn't open. Not in the sense you're using that word, at least.

  • Reply 14 of 177
    rednivalrednival Posts: 331member


    I hope we can forget the Android bashing for one article.  This would have had widespread consequences throughout the software industry if the decision is reversed.  I have done things similar to what Google did here but on a much smaller scale.  I fully believe Apple is rooting for Google on this one issue because it about more than "patent" violations or copyright infringement.  


     


    If Oracle wins this  in the end (it isn't over yet), there is a 10,000% chance Apple is going to be targeted with similar litigation.  Maybe not from Oracle, but someone.  OSX and iOS both depend on open source programs and libraries for many features.  At some point in time Apple probably wrote its own implementations of one those libraries.  The code is 100% Apple written, but how other developers interface with that library identical to some Unix/Linux library. This would leave the door wide open for someone to sue Apple under the same circumstances Google has been sued by Oracle.


     


    So before you go Android bashing, consider for one moment what this case is about much more than a fued between iOS and Android.  This is about turning the entire software industry on its head by changing what constitutes as copyright infringement and what does not.  Google did exactly what Sun  expected people to do when they opened up Java to the world, and now that it has a new owner, Oracle wants to rewrite that history and profit from Google's success.

  • Reply 15 of 177
    msimpsonmsimpson Posts: 452member


    I don't know if the jury really was capable of understanding the technical details of what was presented.  Should be interesting to see Oracle's next step...


     


    But Motorola (a division of Google) is not winning its cases...  here is another fun one to watch.


     


    http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Microsoft-Wins-Patent-Suit-Against-Motorola-Android-Handsets-808814/

  • Reply 16 of 177
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin



    and the gator spoojing

  • Reply 17 of 177
    fredaroonyfredaroony Posts: 619member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    So before I report you for being a troll account, 



    Add yourself to that list while you are doing the reporting. 

  • Reply 18 of 177
    agramonteagramonte Posts: 345member


    done... another idiotic waste of time ends how it should.

  • Reply 19 of 177
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by fredaroony View Post

    Add yourself to that list while you are doing the reporting. 


     


    I'm fairly certain you can't be a troll on a pro-Apple forum by truthfully supporting Apple.

  • Reply 20 of 177
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    I'm fairly certain you can't be a troll on a pro-Apple forum by truthfully supporting Apple.

    Maybe you don't know what trolling means?
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