Google celebrates courtroom victory in long-running Oracle legal fight
Google has come out on top in its long-running legal tussle with Oracle over the use of its java software in the Android operating system – although the decision will now be subject of an appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Oracle contended that Google infringed upon its copyright, demanding close to $9bn in damages as a result but Google insisted that they should be able to use Java for free under the ‘fair use’ clause in US copyright law.
Google described the decision as a ‘win for the Android ecosystem, for the Java programming community, and for software developers who rely on open and free programming languages to build innovative consumer products.’
Taking a different view of events Oracle lawyer Dorian Daley, said: "We strongly believe that Google developed Android by illegally copying core Java technology to rush into the mobile device market.
"Oracle brought this lawsuit to put a stop to Google's illegal behaviour. We believe there are numerous grounds for appeal and we plan to bring this case back to the federal circuit on appeal."
Oracle believes that Android’s dominance of the mobile phone market, currently standing at around 80 per cent, has done ‘irreversible’ damage to Java’s own potential market.