Elijah Ketchum
Good news for Google and Android fans everywhere, the jury of the Google vs Oracle case has finally made a decision. The verdict, which was actually unanimous, was that Google is not infringing on Oracle’s patents, and that they are perfectly fine to use their API’s in Android’s coding. Oracle began the lawsuit in 2010 when they acquired Sun Microsystems, and Google had been using Java in Android before the deal happened. Google defended themselves by saying they weren’t aware of the patents they were allegedly infringing on, and that their operating system was also free to license.
Oracle didn’t believe this to be true obviously, but the jury decided they did today. After asking a technical question about the legal definition of certain phrases within the patents themselves, the jury was again in deliberations and decided on a verdict 30 minutes later. Google made the following statement about the win: “Today’s jury verdict that Android does not infringe Oracle’s patents was a victory not just for Google but the entire Android ecosystem.” This is definitely a big step for Google in the many patent woes they have encountered with Android, but sadly, not everything has been cleared up for Android. Apple and Samsung are still going at it, and patents continue to be a problem for one of the world’s largest mobile OS’s.
Source: CNET
