Oracle Thinks Google Owes $6.1 Billion In Damages

An anonymous reader writes "When Oracle acquired Sun in 2009, the company got its hands on a lot of desirable technology. While OpenOffice may have fallen by the wayside, Oracle isn't about to let the Java programming language and its associated patents remain untouched if they can generate some additional revenue. In fact, the company is currently in the middle of a legal battle with Google over those patents that could potentially net Oracle billions and leave Android crippled. In August last year Oracle sued Google for infringing Java patents and copyright by developing Android. Oracle argues that Android uses technology derived from Java and therefore infringes multiple patents. It wants compensation, but with most court documents and details not publicly available, it's hard to know specifics. However, new documents made available late last week revealed just how much Oracle thinks is an acceptable damages payment for Google to make. According to an expert Oracle hired, Google could be looking at a bill between $1.4 billion and $6.1 billion for its alleged infringements."

Comments

New Google Strategy

[ackthpt]

1. Buy Oracle

2. Sack those who are responsible for the suit.

3. Open Java to the Public Domain

4. Sell Oracle.

Re:Obligatory

[micheas]

The former head of RedHat's legal team took over groklaw.

Re:Ummm...

[yog]

From the Groklaw article: "Cockburn Offers No Meaningful Analysis Regarding Copyright Damages"

That just about sums it up. Oracle shouldn't be picking a fight with Google; they should be thanking Google for helping to spread general Java know-how and promoting it on their phones, even if they've found a way to evade the licensing fees by using a 3rd party JVM.

Nokia has just started a partnership with Microsoft, so Windows Mobile and Bing Search will probably be their standard platform, with Visual C# as the primary language. Blackberry still uses Java, but they're going down the tubes as fast as Nokia. Meanwhile, Apple continues to prefer Objective C. That leaves only Android as the major handheld platform for any flavor of Java.

If Oracle wishes to spread Java on the handheld, they could maybe start by not suing the maker of Android. They should instead be negotiating with Google, trying to integrate Oracle services into Android, maybe offer Google a good deal on a fully licensed JVM that performs better than Dalvik. Wasting millions of dollars on lawyers and risking a huge schism with Google hardly seems worth it.

Microsoft is Google's rival; Microsoft is Oracle's rival. Increasingly, Apple is Google's rival. Maybe the two should get together and unite against Microsoft (and Apple, which has little invested in Oracle's product line). Stupid lawsuits, wasting everyone's time and money. How many programmers could they have hired for the amounts they're spending and will spend on this ridiculous effort?

Re:Compensation for Java?

[Smallpond]

Offset by saving some of us from C++.

Re:Compensation for Java?

[poetmatt]

Note the updates from Groklaw. (link to article)

UPDATE

Just in case you missed it (or simply don't want to spend your time searching for it, there are at least three important takeaways conveyed in the Google brief and related documents:

        * Cockburn ignored prior negotiations between Sun and Google in which Google was offered the opportunity to license these and other patents for a fraction of Cockburn's present estimate;
        * Cockburn ignored other licensing transactions in which Sun licensed these patents for a fraction of Cockburn's present estimate (and these other licensing transactions will almost certainly become a limiting factor on any royalties Oracle may be awarded); and
        * Cockburn bases his estimate on worldwide sales of Android devices and Google revenue, despite the fact that the devices are made and used (and thus the infringement occurs) outside the U.S. and is not subject to a U.S. patent claim.

All of this serves to indicate that the Cockburn report, while sensational, has little or no bearing on a likely outcome of this case

Re:Python for Android ... FTW!

[spintriae]

I wouldn't be surprised actually if Google was developing Go for the explicit purpose of replacing Java on Android. They announced Go a few months after Oracle acquired Sun, and last month at Google I/O, Rob Pike had this to say about it.

Beware "placed" articles

[davecb]

Groklaw also identified this as FUD, also known as "trying the case in the newspapers".

--dave