| Re: The Future of PHP [message #171062 is a reply to message #171047] |
Mon, 20 December 2010 14:45   |
Erwin Moller
Messages: 228
Registered: September 2010
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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On 12/17/2010 10:37 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> Erwin Moller wrote:
>
>> Does anybody know what the charges exactly mean that Oracle charged
>> against Google? It had to do with Java and Google's Android.
>>
>> What I see happening:
>> 1) Android is developed with Java. Everybody is happy.
>> 2) Oracle buys Sun, and thus gets Java.
>> 3) Oracle brings Google to the courtroom.
>>
>> I am horribly bad at reading legal stuff, so somebody can explain it
>> to me in a more logical/clear way, please do.
>>
>
> When someone says it better than you can yourself, quote..;-)
>
> "Oracle has mounted a no-holds-barred legal attack on Google's Android
> operating system in a lawsuit that accuses the internet giant of
> deliberately infringing patents and copyrights Oracle holds for the Java
> platform.
>
> In a complaint filed late Thursday, Oracle asked a federal court in
> Northern California to seize all Android products and advertising, block
> the further infringement of its intellectual property, and force Google
> to pay hefty damages, including trebled patent damages because the
> alleged misappropriation was willful. The action was filed on behalf of
> Oracle subsidiary Oracle America, which obtained the Java rights with
> the acquisition of Sun Microsystems in January.
>
> "Without consent, authorization, approval, or license, Google knowingly,
> willingly, and unlawfully copied, prepared, published, and distributed
> Oracle America's copyrighted work, portions thereof, or derivative works
> and continues to do so," Oracle attorneys, which include renowned
> litigator David Boies, wrote. "Google's Android infringes Oracle
> America's copyrights in Java and Google is not licensed to do so."
>
> The unexpected move comes as sales of Android-based smartphones are
> surging, inching past iPhone buyers in the second quarter of this year
> and garnering a 27 per cent market share to the iPhone's 23 per cent. It
> follows a series of patent suits and countersuits filed by and against
> Apple over intellectual property for its handset.
>
> The complaint asserts seven patents to various technologies associated
> with Java, in addition to copyrighted code, documentation,
> specifications, libraries, and other materials that comprise the
> platform. Attorneys said the intellectual property is infringed by
> various Java applications that make up the Android stack and run on a
> Java-based object-oriented application framework. They also cited core
> Android libraries that run on the Dalvik virtual machine, which features
> just-in-time compilation.
>
> "On information and belief, Google has purposefully, actively, and
> voluntarily distributed Android and related applications, devices,
> platforms, and services with the expectation that they will be
> purchased, used or licensed by consumers in the Northern District of
> California," the complaint stated. "By purposefully and voluntarily
> distributing one or more of its infringing products and services, Google
> has injured Oracle America and is thus liable to Oracle America for
> infringement of the patents at issue in this litigation."
>
> The legal broadside is in some ways reminiscent of the legal offensive
> Sun launched against Microsoft in 1997 over the same technology. The two
> companies spent the better part of a decade hashing out their
> disagreements, and many of the most explosive allegations — that
> Microsoft intentionally misappropriated Java to blunt its
> write-once-run-anywhere promise — were later incorporated into an
> antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department and more than a dozen
> states.
>
> Microsoft ultimately agreed to pay Sun $1bln to settle their
> disagreements after the judge hearing the antitrust case ruled that
> Microsoft was a monopolist that had acted illegally to preserve its
> dominant position.
>
> The patents in the case are 6,125,447, "Protection domains to provide
> security in a computer system"; 6,192,476, "Controlling access to a
> resource"; 5,966,702, "Method and apparatus for pre-processing and
> packaging class files"; 7,426,720, "System and method for dynamic
> preloading of classes through memory space cloning of a master runtime
> system process"; RE38,104, "Method and apparatus for resolving data
> references in generated code"; 6,910,205, "Interpreting functions
> utilizing a hybrid of virtual and native machine instructions"; and
> 6,061,520, "Method and system for performing static initialization."
>
> Google declined to comment."
>
> ..........................................
> It was worth it for a billion, last time.
>
Hi TNP,
Looks like it indeed. :-)
But this case is different because Android Phones didn't intentionally
cripple Java, like early MS versions of 'Java' did.
I did some more reading and my new impression is this:
1) Google's Android is big, as is Google:it is multi-billion market.
2) As long as Oracle effectively spreads it FUD, sales might drop.
Potential customers might think: "Why buy a phone that is in legal
trouble? Will it continue? etc". You know: All the intented effects of a
successful FUD campaign.
3) Google calculates that settling the matter is cheaper than winning
the battle in court (after 10 years).
But that might just be my paranoid worldview.
Regards,
Erwin Moller
--
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to
make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the
other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious
deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult."
-- C.A.R. Hoare
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