Oracle has a very effective legal department, considering all the lawsuits it has been involved with at various points in time, and the latest two developments will force the company to make good use of it. The first update comes from the ongoing Google case, in which Oracle sued the internet giant for alleged infringements on Java.
Google, in turn, filed its response to Oracle’s damages claim, pointing out two very interesting arguments about the testimony of Oracle’s expert witness Prof. Iain Cockburn. Google says Oracle is after its ad revenue from Android – a business that, according to the company, has nothing to do with the free operating system.
Google also responded to Cockburn’s claim that Android fragmented Java:
“Cockburn’s major premise, that Sun vigorously fought Java fragmentation, is false. As discussed below, Sun promoted fragmentation through its own licensing program…In particular, JavaME—the subset of Java at issue here—was fragmented for several years before Android had even been conceived.”
The document continues to note that treating Java as a “one overarching technology” is contrary to reality,” and that Java is only one of several branches of the Java platform. Google’s point is that Oracle has not been able to monetize Java due to this pre-existing fragmentation, and it aims to do so now via the means of its lawsuit.
Florian Mueller estimates that Oracle is seeking at least $1 billion or so from Google, as well as a 50 percent royalty rate on ads.
Putting Android aside, Oracle is also being sued on the server front. After it ceased software development for Hewlett-Packard and Intel’s Itanium chips, HP issued a statement saying it will file a lawsuit against Oracle should it not reverse its decision. About a week later, Hewlett-Packard filed suit in the Santa Clara Superior Court seeking damages for Oracle alleged “failure to live up to a clear and simple promise to work with HP in the interests of both companies’ mutual customers.”
