Oracle vs Google Trial; Jury Comes Back: Google Did NOT Infringe Any Patents

[dgstorm]

Google just scored a major victory in the Oracle vs. Google patent infringement trial. After a week of deliberations, the Jury has come back with a verdict that Google did NOT infringe upon any of Oracle's patents. Oracle was suing Google for eight alleged infringements of two different patents, but apparently, the Jury came back in favor of Google. This is a huge win for Google, although there were multiple parts to this trial that have yet to be fully ruled upon. Here's a quote from The Verge with some final details,

It's the final victory in several coups for Google. While the jury did find that Android infringed Oracle copyrights by its use of the the structure, sequence, and organization of 37 Java APIs, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether it was covered under fair use, rendering the verdict moot at the moment. The jury found that Google had infringed on only one other copyright count — the use of nine lines of rangeCheck code — though Judge Alsup later ruled that Google had also infringed by its use of eight Java test files in Android, adding a second minor infringement count to Google's plate.

While the jury's involvement has come to an end, there are still several outstanding questions. Judge Alsup has yet to rule on whether the SSO of the Java APIs can be copyrighted in the first place; the jury was asked to come to their findings under the assumption that it was. He will be receiving additional briefs from both Oracle's and Google's legal teams within the next hour. It's not yet clear when he will be making his final decision on the issue, though Alsup has already made it clear he will be taking off the next two days for personal reasons. Per the agreement that both teams struck last week, should Alsup find that the SSO is not covered under copyright law, Oracle will receive statutory damages from Google for the rangeCheck and test file usage, a maximum of $150,000 per infringement count. Should he rule to the contrary, all three copyright infringement counts will be bundled together to be dealt with in a new trial or in an appeals court (no matter what Alsup's decision, appeals are inevitable given the magnitude of the case).

Afterwards, both companies issued press statements:

Oracle:

Oracle presented overwhelming evidence at trial that Google knew it would fragment and damage Java. We plan to continue to defend and uphold Java's core write once run anywhere principle and ensure it is protected for the nine million Java developers and the community that depend on Java compatibility.

Google:

Today's jury verdict that Android does not infringe Oracle's patents was a victory not just for Google but the entire Android ecosystem.

Source: TheVerge

[wicked]

This is huge! Oracle wanted billions from Google, now they're lucky if they get 500k in "damages"

[MissionImprobable]

Hoorah!

[Caesars]

I actually didn't follow this case, was it a legit argument or was it as stupid as apple trying to stifle Samsung?

[dgstorm]

^^. It was actually even less valid. The primary dispute was over 8 lines of code, that could have been purely an accidental coincidence, and not an intentional theft. Additionally, those lines of code have yet to be ruled upon by the Judge as to whether they were even able to be copyrighted by Oracle to begin with.

[guidot]

AND to top it all off, the judge presiding was a "code jockey" himself, which made it even worse for Oracle. He said something to the effect of, how do you know it was stolen? This code wouldn't have taken long to write and test, so why would they bother stealing it?

[jroc]

Just read about this at work in a news paper.

So glad about this. I agree, the judge knowing a lil bit about codes, tech probably helped.