|
|
|
|
|
Oracle Suing Google Some Speculation About the Complaint August 20, 2010, Volume 150, Issue 3
Oracle's motives in suing Google are, at the moment, anyone's guess, as is the possible outcome of the litigation and its implications for the continued adoption of Java. The latter consequence is the most potentially damaging in the view of Stephen O'Grady, who analyzes the issue in his RedMonk article. He suggests that Apple and Microsoft are jumping for joy at the possible strengthening of their respective bottom lines by users who will have become reluctant to bet the farm on Java any longer. If Google was counting on Oracle to continue making nice, as Sun's executives had done post-Microsoft-settlement, then they guessed wrong, writes O'Grady, since Oracle is an entirely different breed of cat. He notes that, for the most part, Sun defended its patents rather than mounting an offensive campaign concerning its IP. In proceeding with the development of Android, most of Google's work was accomplished while Sun was the patent owner, says O'Grady. A lawsuit was only a remote possibility with Sun on the other side of the table, he notes. So, is it financial return that Oracle is after? Should the verdict or a settlement go in Oracle's favor, the result would reduce the outlay for the acquisition of Sun from a "bargain into a steal," O'Grady opines. Still, given Oracle's dependence on the Java ecosystem, it would amount to chopping the legs off the table were users to turn against Java technology. Stack ownership and integration of hardware and software are strategies that rely heavily on a climate of acceptance by the user community. Dollars and cents alone don't amount to a convincing motive, according to O'Grady. A dire outcome for Oracle that O'Grady outlines lies in the possibility that the company may be counting on its ability to defend the idea of "closing" once "open" software. If the answer is no, Oracle will have lost big and in more than simple monetary terms, he suggests. O'Grady cites a Forbes argument that all the fuss is about a pending cross-licensing arrangement, in which case the argument becomes much larger than one over Android alone, so he is skeptical on this possibility. Nor is O'Grady convinced by the argument that Oracle sees the end of the road for Java and wants to make a killing on a moribund technology before the door closes on it. The logic behind the acquisition campaign was not sufficiently feeble to warrant such a conclusion, he asserts. As to the actual terms of the case, Bruce Perens blogs that Oracle bases its contention on Android's being a subset of Java, which makes it ineligible for coverage under the terms of Java patent grants Sun made earlier. These grants, he points out, insisted that " ... implementation meet a Java standard, be neither subset nor superset of Java functionality, and pass conformance tests." Android? Not so much, he contends since, without either AWT or Swing" it conforms to neither Java SE or Java ME. Ergo, Sun's patent grant does not extend to Android in Perens' view. More Information
Oracle's Google Complaint
[...read more...]
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exactly what does Oracle have in mind regarding Google?
Print
Email
Oracle Suing Google
(this article)
|
News and Solutions for Users of Solaris, Java and Oracle's Sun hardware products
Just the news you need, none of what you don't – 42,000+ Members – 24,000+ Articles Published since 1998 |
Copyright © 1998-2011 System News, Inc.
