Google Wins Java Copyright Case Against Oracle
May 26 2016 - 5:00PM
Dow Jones News
By Jack Nicas
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal jury here ruled that Google's use of
Oracle Corp.'s Java software didn't violate copyright law, the
latest twist in a six-year legal battle between the two Silicon
Valley titans.
Oracle sued Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., in 2010 for using
parts of Java without permission in its Android smartphone
software. A federal appeals court ruled in 2014 that Oracle could
copyright the Java parts, but Google argued in a new trial this
month that its use of Java was limited and covered by rules
permitting "fair use" of copyright material.
A 10-person jury on Thursday agreed.
Google acknowledged using 11,000 lines of Java software code.
But it said that amounted to less than 0.1% of the 15 million lines
of code in its Android mobile-operating system, which runs most of
the world's smartphones.
The verdict is unlikely to end the long legal saga, which
already had a brief stop at the U.S. Supreme Court. Oracle is
expected to appeal.
The tech community has watched the case closely because it could
set precedent for how software programs use so-called application
program interfaces, or APIs, important snippets of computer code
that help apps, websites or programs talk to each other.
Oracle sued Google for using 37 Java APIs in Android. Google
said requiring it to have a license for the APIs would stifle
software innovation by discouraging programmers from using APIs.
That would make software development harder and could render some
apps inoperable, Google said.
Oracle, meanwhile, argued that Google took its property without
permission. Oracle says the verdict hurts innovation by weakening
intellectual-property protections for software and discouraging
tech companies from investing to create new programs.
In prior rounds, tech companies were split on the case. On the
issue of whether Java was copyrightable, for instance,
Hewlett-Packard Co., Red Hat Inc. and Yahoo Inc. backed Google,
while Microsoft Corp. sided with Oracle.
During the nearly three-week trial, Google argued that
executives at Java's creator, Sun Microsystems Inc., didn't believe
Google needed a license to use Java. Oracle acquired Sun in 2010.
Former Sun Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz, a Google witness,
testified that he was upset Google never obtained a license for
Java, but he didn't think it needed one.
Oracle argued that Google executives knew they needed a license
to use the Java APIs but decided to use them anyway. Oracle showed
internal Google emails in which executives discussed needing a
license.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 26, 2016 16:45 ET (20:45 GMT)
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