While Google Android smartphone sales may have passed the iPhone worldwide in the second quarter of 2010, it doesn’t take an Oracle to see that there’s trouble ahead for the company whose unofficial motto is “Do no evil.”. As outlined by the Wall Street Journal, the Android OS violates Oracle’s Java copyrights which is why Oracle Corp. is suing Google Inc.. The suit makes it seem like Google’s founder, previous Sun chief technology officer, Eric Schmidt, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison are enemies. Oracle became the owner of the company that made Java, Sun, in January 2010. Today, Java is used within the Android smartphone as well as hundreds of other devices.
Lawsuit from Oracle wants damages paid for
According to the WSJ, the Oracle lawsuit seeks “unspecific damages and an injunction against ‘continued acts of infringement’ by Google.” Google has not officially responded to Oracle’s lawsuit yet, but it had been widely assumed that it was allowed to use free open-source Java licenses, as Sun traditionally authorized use of such licenses. There was no official Oracle/Google deal that was announced. If an injunction against Google is given by the presiding California court, developers would be barred from creating applications for Android OS and shipments of Android phones would come to a halt.
Protecting intellectual property
While Sun’s business practices centered on a healthy respect for open-source software and free exchange of ideas, Oracle “takes a lot more care in terms of guarding its IP, and Java is one of the crown jewels of the Sun acquisition,” tech analyst Ray Wang told the Journal. Perhaps it is as PC World suggests, that Oracle clings to IP since the U.S. government is on its tail over tax evasion. Now the company is rivaling Google rather than Microsoft, a court system is looked to in order to get some more money flowing in.
More on this topic accessible at these websites
PC World
pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/203336/oracles_fall_from_tech_giant_to_patent_troll.html?tk=hp_new
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052748704407804575426122820659864.html
“Trade the Trend” report on the Oracle-Google lawsuit
youtube.com/watch?v=ooYOG00oXpY
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