Google has released its first response to the lawsuit filed by Oracle yesterday demanding money from the search giants for infringing on Oracle’s java-related intellectual property. The response is as expected with Google defending its use of java as an open source software. Google’s official statement to the press says:
We are disappointed Oracle has chosen to attack both Google and the open-source Java community with this baseless lawsuit. The open-source Java community goes beyond any one corporation and works every day to make the web a better place. We will strongly defend open-source standards and will continue to work with the industry to develop the Android platform.
The reason for the lawsuit appearing so late and especially after the massive success of the Android OS has also come to light. Patent lawsuits cost millions only in research and then more for legal fees. They also tend to go on for quite a while, years even and that only means more and more spending. CNet pointed out yesterday that Sun Microsystems (bought by Oracle last year) didn’t have the financial capability to wage war against Google. Oracle, with its greater financial strength and experience in patent lawsuits, can. Oracle is obviously hoping to collect a lot more from Google than what it will be spending on the lawsuit.
Majority of the online community, tech experts and writers have slammed the lawsuit, defending Google and agreeing with its open-source defence. Sun released most of Java’s code as open-source software in 2006 and Google mentions the word (open-source) thrice in its official statement. James Gosling, the father of Java who left Sun soon after it was acquired by Oracle, wrote on his blog last night that Oracle was eying the Java patents as part of the Sun acquisition:
Oracle finally filed a patent lawsuit against Google. Not a big surprise. During the integration meetings between Sun and Oracle where we were being grilled about the patent situation between Sun and Google, we could see the Oracle lawyer’s eyes sparkle. Filing patent suits was never in Sun’s genetic code. Alas….
Looks like Oracle will have to fight a tough battle in claiming an open-source software as its intellectual property and with all sympathies on Google’s side, it may be a while, if at all, before they see some cash.
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