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From a practical point of view, it is ~43 files out of how many? I think this means that someone got lazy and just copied a bunch of files. This is something th

by angdis 16y ago

From a practical point of view, it is ~43 files out of how many? I think this means that someone got lazy and just copied a bunch of files. This is something that is worthy of a slap on the wrist at worst. Unfortunately, I'm sure that now a few floors of lawyers are salivating at all the hours they're going to bill. In the end, the laywers will get a pile of money, oracle will gain some pocket change at google's expense, and the java community will be hurt the most. Doesn't Oracle have better things to do? What do they gain from this?

kenjackson 16y ago
This is something that is worthy of a slap on the wrist at worst. Given the breadth of the infringement (making it open source w/ OEMs shipping tens of millions of devices based on it), the damages could be substantial. What does Oracle have to gain from this? Money of course. Unless Google has a good response to this, one thing I guarantee will happen is the engineer who checked in these files is going to be looking for a new job.
- commandar 16y ago
  >OEMs shipping tens of millions of devices based on it This is assuming it's a part of the code that actually makes it onto devices. Some of the other comments in this thread suggest they may be from a testing framework.
  - kenjackson 16y ago
    In which case the damages will likely be substanially lower :-)
  - slowpoison 16y ago
    Doesn't matter if it makes it to devices or not. The code was checked into Android repository and was available for download. In other words, the code was made available. With a different license. That is illegal.
jedsmith 16y ago
Your comment leaks quite a bit of bias against Oracle. You'd be just as frustrated if someone violated licensing on a tiny part of your software, then relicensed it and gave it to OEMs for worldwide distribution. In fact, I'd wager that you'd be more frustrated, because you don't have the legal resources that Oracle does to go after it. Sure, whatever opinion you have about Oracle might be valid, particularly with the way they're handling the JCP and OpenSolaris. Whatever. However, there is an underlying issue that is a bit bigger here, and the blog author is pointing that out in a reasonable fashion. It doesn't matter who is suing and who is sued; copyright infringement is copyright infringement. You could make the argument that this isn't any of Oracle's business, but they absorbed everything about Sun: their IP, their liabilities, and so on. Sun was perhaps considering this action before Oracle bought them, and we'll never know. What if the companies were reversed? Would you make the same remarks?
- chucknthem 16y ago
  "What if the companies were reversed? Would you make the same remarks" Given google's reputation for being open, they're not likely to pursue a law suit like oracle just because there's money in it. The media outrage will hurt their reputation more than the monetary gain.
  - jedsmith 16y ago
    Oracle doesn't need money. License Oracle Database if you don't believe me. It's silly to imply that Oracle brought this suit against Google just to score a few bucks, but easy to say when you dislike Oracle. The alternative, and very likely real reason for the suit, is that Oracle actually cares about its intellectual property and would prefer that Google not do what they will with it.
    - Waywocket 16y ago
      >The alternative, and very likely real reason for the suit, is that Oracle actually cares about its intellectual property and would prefer that Google not do what they will with it. I think it's far more likely that Oracle has seen a way to get a slice of the Android pie, and the rapidly growing long-term revenue stream that it likely represents.

by angdis 16y ago

kenjackson 16y ago

This is something that is worthy of a slap on the wrist at worst. Given the breadth of the infringement (making it open source w/ OEMs shipping tens of millions of devices based on it), the damages could be substantial. What does Oracle have to gain from this? Money of course. Unless Google has a good response to this, one thing I guarantee will happen is the engineer who checked in these files is going to be looking for a new job.

commandar 16y ago
>OEMs shipping tens of millions of devices based on it This is assuming it's a part of the code that actually makes it onto devices. Some of the other comments in this thread suggest they may be from a testing framework.
- kenjackson 16y ago
  In which case the damages will likely be substanially lower :-)
- slowpoison 16y ago
  Doesn't matter if it makes it to devices or not. The code was checked into Android repository and was available for download. In other words, the code was made available. With a different license. That is illegal.

jedsmith 16y ago

Your comment leaks quite a bit of bias against Oracle. You'd be just as frustrated if someone violated licensing on a tiny part of your software, then relicensed it and gave it to OEMs for worldwide distribution. In fact, I'd wager that you'd be more frustrated, because you don't have the legal resources that Oracle does to go after it. Sure, whatever opinion you have about Oracle might be valid, particularly with the way they're handling the JCP and OpenSolaris. Whatever. However, there is an underlying issue that is a bit bigger here, and the blog author is pointing that out in a reasonable fashion. It doesn't matter who is suing and who is sued; copyright infringement is copyright infringement. You could make the argument that this isn't any of Oracle's business, but they absorbed everything about Sun: their IP, their liabilities, and so on. Sun was perhaps considering this action before Oracle bought them, and we'll never know. What if the companies were reversed? Would you make the same remarks?

chucknthem 16y ago
"What if the companies were reversed? Would you make the same remarks" Given google's reputation for being open, they're not likely to pursue a law suit like oracle just because there's money in it. The media outrage will hurt their reputation more than the monetary gain.
- jedsmith 16y ago
  Oracle doesn't need money. License Oracle Database if you don't believe me. It's silly to imply that Oracle brought this suit against Google just to score a few bucks, but easy to say when you dislike Oracle. The alternative, and very likely real reason for the suit, is that Oracle actually cares about its intellectual property and would prefer that Google not do what they will with it.
  - Waywocket 16y ago
    >The alternative, and very likely real reason for the suit, is that Oracle actually cares about its intellectual property and would prefer that Google not do what they will with it. I think it's far more likely that Oracle has seen a way to get a slice of the Android pie, and the rapidly growing long-term revenue stream that it likely represents.