Google always argued that this case was more FUD than substance, and they were right.
I'll update as I read more.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Google beats Oracle on copyright claims
Google's arguments on Java copyright have prevailed over Oracle's in their Android patent/copyright case. The copyright side of Oracle's case always struck me as much weaker, and much less was at stake in any case, but this ends Oracle's attempt to own some aspect of Android. Oracle can appeal, but their case was weak, their patent case gets weaker as one of their two patents is about to be invalidated, judge Alsup bent over backwards to accommodate Oracle, and his reasoning is clear. Oracle would have a much higher bar to clear on appeal.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Android beats Oracle patent claims
The verdict on patents went largely as expected, no infringement. Most of Oracle's claims were dismissed before the case went to trial, one of the
Oracle's copyright claims are all that remain at issue in this trial. The jury found only 9 lines of RangeCheck code as infringing, they could not decide Oracle's larger SSO claims on API headers. So the SSO claims are up to judge Alsup.
The only remaining patent threats to the Android ecosystem are Apple's "We have a patent on rounded corners" and "We've patented s/\b(999-999-9999)\b/<a href="call:$1">$1<\/a>/g", claims so weak that Apple won't take on Google directly, and Microsoft's behind-the-scenes machinations. Both of these are rear-guard attempts by aging companies to keep a lid on innovation, and both are likely to go the way of all the patent claims against Linux.
Hopefully Google will continue on the course of knocking down patents rather than settling. Knocking down software patents expands the competitive space for all players in the software industry, and makes room for small, disruptive players to transform whole business segments.
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