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Oracle's Java Claims Now Down To $230 Million
jfruh writes "Hey, remember when Oracle decided to sue Google over claims that Android violated Oracle's Java patents and copyrights? How's that working out? Not so well, it seems! Oracle has been forced to take many of its patents out of the lawsuit due to lack of evidence, and the damages in play now are down to a little less than 4 percent of Oracle's original $6.1 billion claims."
That won't even pay for the mooring fees, let alone an entire yacht!
who cares
the damages in play now are down to a little less than 4 percent of Oracle's original $6.1 billion claims."
At this point, they should just declare that Oracle abused the process and grant Google victory over the remaining patents as compensation/penalty
The problem with outlandish numbers like the $6.1B is that it serves as a poor reference point. We are now saying "only 4%" of what was originally asked for when the original amount was not based on reality. $230M is probably still ridiculously high even if the claims have merit. But once people get a number framed in their mind, it is permanently there as a reference point.
At least they aren't going the route of apple which last week, for example, patented an existing 3D eye tracking based icon display system of which there is a demo by someone else in youtube since 2009.
Would the patent office bother to find out? I dont think so.
Don't believe me, compare it yourself:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2012/02/apple-working-on-hot-3d-eye-tracking-interface-for-gaming-iphone.html
versus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SImOIMcMlk
If anyone has any connection to the US patent office they should be made aware.
That's the way lawyers and lawsuits work, especially in the Fantasyland of "Intellectual Property" law -- throw anything and everything at the wall, see what sticks. Rinse, repeat.
Is it just me, or have lawsuits become a core business model of technology megacorps?
Lawsuits will always be a business model wherever the law provides a cause of action. To take the legal system out of the equation, you have to remove the cause of action. Legislators create causes of action, and U.S. legislators have been captured by rent-seeking monopolists. The only way I can see to clean this up is to end the capture.
rm -rf /Program Fuks/Java
Nobody cares about the money. Can Android be stopped because of this?
Groklaw's latest: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20120220133911859
Oracle should think long and hard about whether it wants to persist on the issue of patent infringement or, for that matter, any infringement at all. Those failed settlement discussions probably look a lot more attractive to Oracle right now.
tomorrow who's gonna fuss
One day Oracle shall beg Google to be granted the right to pay. On that day, the world shall come crashing down in shards of bytecode, and all the Java geeks shall be confounded.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
fees incurred for refuting the claims, and perhaps some penalties (and so on). That should take (a) chunk(s) out of what's left.
Bukowski said it. I believe it. That settles it.
Smart: Because at this very moment, this warehouse is being surrounded by one hundred cops with Doberman pinschers. Would you believe it? A hundred cops with Doberman pinschers.
Nicholas: I find that hard to believe.
Smart: Would you believe ten security guards and a bloodhound?
Nicholas: I don't think so.
Smart: How about a Boy Scout with rabies?
- is that you can't get upset when someone uses them universally.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
What are the total legal fees so far and projected by Oracle? Personally I hope Google countersues and gets 232 Million plus pay Google's legal bill as well.
Seriously does anyone know if they considered it at all and if they did why they chose not to? Sun and Google seems to me to have been a natural pairing. Certainly all the absolutely first rate R and D that went on at Sun would have fit into Google's culture. So why didn't they?
Afaict if oracle wins on some patents they will likely be able to get an injunction against google using stuff covered by those patents. If google can't work around them (that is find a way to do what they need to do without stepping on the patent) they will basically be forced to come to some licensing agreement with oracle and since oracle will have them over a barrel said agreement is unlikely to be cheap.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Ooh! I know this one!
(Simulation of a Patent Office worker)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P46qYCIt954
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
the sort of Java that is in Android is not J2ME at all and is more like J2SE. The licensing cost for J2SE is significantly more expensive per unit than J2ME. It could be a deal breaker for some Android phones to have to shell out such a large royalty.
Dear Oracle,
Don't be stupid. Android is keeping Java relavent in the mobile space. If you were to _partner_ with Google instead of suing them, you could open make Android an official part of the JCP. Oracle could get an instant foothold into expanding mobile space, thus beating Microsoft and IBM simultaneously. In addition to a new revenue stream, you would get to participate in one of my favoriate activities: suing Apple. You need a foothold in the mobile space, while Google needs your patent portfolio and proof of prior art. Google's reputation is staked in Java, and you're not natural competitors, so lay down the arms and stick out an olive branch.
P.S.
J2ME blows whale snot. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.
Yes, we saw the same with SCO, Microsoft, and many more. Sadly the plot line reads the same in every script.
Accuser: "They owe us a billion trillion dollars!"
Defendant: "Um, show us what we did wrong."
Accuser: "You stole all the sugar from our candy, and used it in your candy!"
Defendant: "We purchased our own sugar, here's the receipt."
Accuser: "Um.. You owe us one thousand dollars!"
Defendant: "What did we do wrong?"
Accuser: "We were going to buy that sugar, and you cut in line."
So the next act that plays out is going to be whether a jury thinks that taking cuts in line is worth paying the accuser any money for. With SCO, it did not turn out so well. With Microsoft and Apple it has paid off about 1% of the time. Lets hope the court and jury follow the norm and tell Oracle to grow up and act like a big business now.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
That's it! And for completion, here's the video of the subsequent court cases.
You have to pay the BSA's legal expenses, even if the BSA has no case against you; and you are entirely in the right. That is why everybody settles. Greatest extortion racket ever.
Google should have that much under the couch cushions.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.