Jury rules Google violated copyright law

[georgelappies]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/jury-rules-google-violated-copyright-law-google-moves-for-mistrial.ars

Makes one wonder how safe from big money law suits our favorite OS and its open source apps are...

[Bölvaður]

I just read it in another news source.
I was thunderstruck when I saw this (copy from your news source)


the jury did find that one nine-line function that Google acknowledged copying was infringing

[Primefalcon]

Frankly I'd say let oracle shove their java up their rear ends, its a crappy bloated technology anyhow, frankly if runescape didn't run on it, I wouldn't even have it installed

[KiwiNZ]

Men may come and Men may go.
But, Court goes on forever.

[MisterGaribaldi]

Well, given that the F/OSS community has built open-source replacements (more-or-less) for things like Silverlight and Visual Basic, why can't they do the same with something like Java? Make it truly open-source, patent the **** out of it, and then write into the software patents it's open to anyone to use.

[neu5eeCh]

If Groklaw is to be believed (and I do believe them and always get my information from them) the way the press has reported this ruling entirely misrepresents what actually happened. Here is Groklaw (http://www.groklaw.net/index.php):


Don't let anyone fool you. Today was a major victory for Google. That's why after the jury left, our reporter says that Google's table was laughing, and Oracle's mighty glum. And I see some journalists are surprised or confused, because they have been listening to a steady flow of Oracle FUD from the wrong people. Remember the headlines about this being a $6 billion dollar case? It never was and now it never will be. Oracle attorney Michael Jacobs was reported to have visited the press room at the courthouse during the trial for a talk with the gathered journalists. So did a PR person from his firm. I mean, come on, fellas. And that doesn't even count the hugh stream of misinformation from ... well, you know. And look at the outcome. Not what you were told to expect, is it? Live and learn, y'all. Live and learn.

[oldfred]

Do not read the headlines, they are mostly wrong.

http://www.groklaw.net/index.php

The judge told the jury to assume they violated copyright on the first item and part 2 of the first item they could not reach a conclusion, but the judge is the one who has to decide if API's can even be copyrighted. He also asked the lawyers from both sides to update him on why this case may be different than the one in Europe where it was ruled that APIs cannot be copyrighted. Many think you cannot copyright APIs but with a court case you never know.

There was no argument on 9 lines of code that were copied out of millions of lines and the 9 lines were since removed. So Google had already agreed to that, but are going for use being so small as not worth anything. It also turns out the 9 lines were from the same programmer in both cases.

[KiwiNZ]

Do not read the headlines, they are mostly wrong.

http://www.groklaw.net/index.php

The judge told the jury to assume they violated copyright on the first item and part 2 of the first item they could not reach a conclusion, but the judge is the one who has to decide if API's can even be copyrighted. He also asked the lawyers from both sides to update him on why this case may be different than the one in Europe where it was ruled that APIs cannot be copyrighted. Many think you cannot copyright APIs but with a court case you never know.

There was no argument on 9 lines of code that were copied out of millions of lines and the 9 lines were since removed. So Google had already agreed to that, but are going for use being so small as not worth anything. It also turns out the 9 lines were from the same programmer in both cases.

Spin is spin, fact is fact. Never the twain shall meet.

[alexfish]

Think it all going down the S**t pan ,

Had a look at my / there original license Re : Java Technology Restrictions ,

has the usual warp phrasing, as with most licensing agreements , reading through it

item of note :

in the event that you create an additional class and assosiated API(s) which (i) extends the
functionality of the "java" platform, and (i) is exposed to third party software developers for the purpose of developing additional software which invokes such additional API,you must promptly publish broadly
Notice this bit >>. an accurate specification for such API for free use by all developers ...

where on earth is all heading . think some areas be left alone , and just get on with life

Can think of one name for this "it's phrased ".... Bull S**t Bingo.

[JDShu]

There's a long way to go yet.

Google's Android strategy does strike me as kind of stupid though (granted, in hindsight). Java isn't even that great a language and they don't get the benefits of Hotspot. With the latest news that Mono runs faster on Android than Dalvik I seriously wonder what today's smartphone market would have been like if Google chose a different route.

[grahammechanical]

The BBC news site as the same news item but after you get past the shock/horror headline it turns out to be a different story.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1975555


Notice these comments


The jury in San Francisco were asked to consider four questions on Oracle's claim that Google violated several of its patents and copyrights, but could only agree on three. It found in Google's favour on two of them.


But Oracle can only seek statutory damages, ranging from $200 to $150,000.


Oracle argued that by using its intellectual property, and then giving Android away for free, Google undermined the possibility of it licensing Java to mobile phone makers.

Answer? Don't use Java.

Regards

[georgelappies]

There's a long way to go yet.

Google's Android strategy does strike me as kind of stupid though (granted, in hindsight). Java isn't even that great a language and they don't get the benefits of Hotspot. With the latest news that Mono runs faster on Android than Dalvik I seriously wonder what today's smartphone market would have been like if Google chose a different route.

Definitely, why not just keep it native c/c++ It will run way faster then and due to the entry barrier being a bit higher maybe one would see less cruft in the Android app store.

[forrestcupp]

Answer? Don't use Java.


It's kind of too late for that now. Android is a giant and they don't want to break everything and make everyone have to redevelop the thousands of apps out there.

But I do wish in the beginning they would have went with Python or something. Python alone can't compare with Java, but there are plenty of free libs out there that can make it compare.