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Oracle Subpoenas Apache Foundation In Google Suit

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the battle-of-the-paperwork dept.

angry tapir writes "Oracle has subpoenaed the Apache Software Foundation in connection with its ongoing intellectual property suit against Google. Oracle filed suit against Google in August, alleging that its Android mobile operating system infringes on seven of Oracle's Java patents. Google has denied any wrongdoing. The subpoena, which was received by ASF on Monday, seeks 'the production of documents related to the use of Apache Harmony code in the Android software platform, and the unsuccessful attempt by Apache to secure an acceptable license to the Java SE Technology Compatibility Kit.'"

7 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. as noted, this is pretty funny by poetmatt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    considering that apache is pretty openly documented, subpoena'ing them is probably mostly useless. I mean they could probably point Oracle to their own wiki.

    1. Re:as noted, this is pretty funny by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah but you'd have to find someone at Oracle who knows how to use a web browser.

      You'd send them a URL and they'd spend 12 months and 10 million dollars writing a "program" in PL/SQL to access the wiki.

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    2. Re:as noted, this is pretty funny by John+Hasler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The court wants to see the documents as delivered by Apache, not copies that Oracle's lawyers claim to have found on some Web site. Oracle also wants to see private communications between Apache and IBM. This is all very routine and reasonable in the circumstance. Apache will be compensated for their expenses and they can ask the judge to seal anything that they don't want in the public record.

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      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    3. Re:as noted, this is pretty funny by kestasjk · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's just not true.. They would send over a team to run some workshops, evaluate the wiki's work processes, recommend an alternative ERP, reevaluate all competing systems, and charge for analysis, installation, maintenance, and travel, and then they'd spend 12 months and 10 million dollars writing a "program" in PL/SQL to access the wiki.

      But the accessed wiki would be hosted in Oracle's cloud storage, so you would need an extra few eBusiness modules to interface with that, plus service and bandwidth of course (not to mention consulting and security).

      Once it's all paid up (Oracle hosts your finance software, but it's just coincidence that they charge slightly less than you can possibly afford) you have the glory of an eBusiness form which ties the "WikiID" with all your "EmployeeID"s (it's called integration), and you can run all sorts of reports like "WikiIDs vs EmployeeIDs" or "Sum of WikiIDs vs EmployeeIDs", or even "Sum of WikiIDs vs EmployeeIDs two weeks ago".

      Your CFO will love it, the board will think it's vital, and we'll leech the hard won efficiency gains out of your business and use the money to kill cheap open-source competitors and fight innovation with lawyers.

      Welcome to eLogicStackEnterprise; an obsolete database powering a recently closed source stack supporting a thin layer of generic business logic supporting a veneer of customized business logic straining under a mountain of bullshit.

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      // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
    4. Re:as noted, this is pretty funny by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Funny

      If they're looking for documentation, then they really don't understand F/OSS!

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      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  2. Re:cross-platform? no, lock-in! by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Informative

    bzzt wrong!

    You can go download the source to dalvik and use it on what ever platform you want. Blackberry is going to be doing just that.

    So where is this source to the Microsoft JVM?

  3. Re:cross-platform? no, lock-in! by DrXym · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Code written for Android can't be run on another platform without rewriting large portions of the code. In essence, it's basically just the same sort of additions that Microsoft did and got tons of bad press about.

    Android application code really doesn't care where it's running. It's running on a VM after all. If someone ported Dalvik to another platform, Android apps would run there too. In fact RIM have done that already, porting Dalvik over QNX. If they can do it then it's clearly not proprietary or lock-in. I'd actually like to see Dalvik ported in this way since it would speed up development no end and might prove useful for other purposes

    As for Microsoft's issues with Java, it's not the same at all. First Dalvik / Android are not Java. Never have been, never claimed to be. It's always been made explicitly clear that devs write with the Java language but the target is not a JVM.