“A U.S. judge has largely sided with Oracle Corp. over how several technical terms will be defined in its patent fight over Google Inc’s Android software, according to a tentative ruling,” Dan Levine reports for Reuters.
“Claim construction orders define the scope of a party’s patent rights, and thus can often shape the course of the litigation,” Levine reports. “Oracle sued Google last year, claiming the Web search company’s Android mobile operating technology infringes on Oracle’s Java patents.”
Levine reports, “The claim construction order released on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge William Alsup construes terms in three of the seven patents in the case. Out of five technical terms at issue, Alsup opted for Oracle’s interpretation of four. The judge wrote his own construction for another one.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There’s a storm a-comin’ for Google’s house of cards.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Robert A.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple CEO Steve Jobs hid iPad development from Google mole Eric Schmidt – April 12, 2011
37 Android-related patent lawsuits since 2010 – March 22, 2011
Android Java code likely to damage Google’s defense against Oracle’s patent infringement lawsuit – January 22, 2011
New evidence shows Google may have directly copied Oracle IP in Android – January 21, 2011
FOSS Patents: Google’s patent portfolio too weak to protect Android – January 20, 2011
Oracle: Google directly copied Java code in Android – October 28, 2010
The death of android, it begins.
Couldn’t happen to a more appropriate band of thieves and their thieving, deluded, spiteful, myopic customers.
Google and Microsoft take note!!! Your copy machines gonna need some major repair soon.
I hear there are almost 40 separate patent lawsuits underway against Google and their Android device makers. That is a stunning number. I also hear Google has almost no significant patents covering Android. So they’ve bid close to $1B for bankrupt Nortel’s IP, to try to defend a product they give away for free. Goog stockholders must be grumbling about this.
Look at this
” rel=”nofollow”>chart. It’s a bit dated now, but shows the status well for Oct, 2010.
Would those newly-purchased patents (if their bid wins) apply retroactively, or merely from the date of purchase?
I’m wondering if the court would determine damages based on every Android activation for the infringing period. Big market share becomes a double-edged sword…
A patent is attached to it’s invention, whoever owns it, at least until it eventually expires. Sun Microsystems created Java. When Oracle acquired Sun, Ellison their patent portfolio, including Java. The really infuriating thing is that Google didn’t just copy Java technology, they plagiarized the code, character for character. Google shouldn’t stand a chance on this. They may hope to gain a settlement promising to redesign Android using Nortel code, or counter that Nortel patents cover what they did. Of course if it goes to a jury there’s no telling what will happen.
I’d hardly call it plagiarism, Eric Schmidt wrote the book on Java while working at Sun. Can you plagiarize your own work?
It’s not about who wrote it. It’s about who owns it.
Perhaps not, but he can *steal* it.
If a carpenter comes to my house and I pay him to make me a table, it’s his work but my table. If he later wants a table he can’t just come round my place and take mine, he has to make a new one.
Doesn’t matter a bit. But Java belongs to Oracle now.
It’s been a few years and still the message is not clear:
NO MORE FREE LUNCHES. Either cut it on merit or die.
Time to walk the walk.
Sorry in advance for stating the obvious, but this could have HUGE implications if Google’s appeal doesn’t go anywhere.
Talk about up the river and no canoe!
Google’s partners are going to be telling Google, “you got some splaining to dooooooo.”
Does this mean we also shouldn’t trust Google when they say WebM is “royalty free?” LOL!
Google – strike one! Oracle is ahead in the count and pitching wicked stuff!
Don’t uncork the champagne Droid haters. Even if Google loses a case or two it will not be for several years. These cases are like death sentences, likely take 15 years to finally exhaust appeals. Why do you think Apple has banked 65 billion. Lawyer fees I would surmise.
Woo-hoo!
Schmidt just got schmutt.
Google can avoid these kind of lawsuits of they switched to Java alternatives like Clojure or Scala.