Java: The Bitter Brew for Google and Oracle
June 17, 2011
It is column time. I look forward to my write up about open source for Online Magazine. Open source is an interesting disruptor in the enterprise software sector. When my column appears the Oracle Java Google dust up will be over. Here are some thoughts on the matter.
The legal battle between Oracle and Google is heating up as Oracle brings in an economics expert to elevate their platform against Google. We first learned of the lawsuit late last summer when Computer World released the facts in their article, “Update: Oracle Sues Google over Java use in Android.” In short, Oracle charged Google with copyright infringements on their Java-related intellectual property.
Does Oracle want to put a toll road on the information highway?
A little background: Oracle bought Sun Microsystems Java technology when it acquired the company early in 2010. If a software application is written in Java, it can be used on any computer that has a Java virtual machine installed. Google developed Android and its software was also Java compatible — called Dalvik . Google claims:
“Dalvik was developed as a “clean room” version of Java, meaning Google built it from the ground up without using any Sun technology or intellectual property.”
Oracle begs to differ; it’s been downhill for Google ever since — especially since Android has been so successful.
Ten months later and the plot thickens. Oracle’s demands in this lawsuit, despite the hush-hush nature of the negotiations, are clearly huge. Specific details aren’t known but it makes sense that if Oracle were going to go away quietly it would all have been settled months ago.
In “Oracle Wants a Huge Cut of Google’s Mobile Advertising Revenue Plus Compensation for Fragmentation of Java,” Florian Mueller of Foss Patents writes:
I have analyzed the situation and I can tell you up-front: the word “demanding” is an understatement. The position on damages for past infringement taken by an Oracle expert appears to be such that Oracle would want Google to pay damages for past infringement that would in the worst case far exceed any money Google has made with Android so far — and would likely expect Google to pay even more going forward.” The implications of this are astounding. If Google loses, it would affect most, perhaps all, of the existing Dalvik based (.DEX) applications.
Oracle is fighting tough. They’ve hired a professor of economics, Iain Cockburn, as a damages expert. Though blackened in areas, the report Cockburn filed has Google so nervous they are trying to prevent him from speaking in front of a jury. Cockburn’s report focuses exclusively on damages for past infringements, i.e., all the money Google made from the Java intellectual property mentioned earlier. Further inflammatory information says that Google refused to work with Sun when they offered a Java related license deal before Oracle bought them; therefore, Google is accused of ,” willful and deliberate…infringement.” Mueller suggests the compensatory damages should be tripled in light of willful infringement. Ouch.
Among the many arguments is the hypothetical royalty base. Oracle contends that “Google’s advertising revenue from, e.g., mobile searches on Android devices should be included in the royalty base as a convoyed sale.” Google disagrees strongly on this point saying that the Android software and Google’s ads are separate; in other words, the Android allows the phones to function, whether or not the user looks at ads. Mueller sides with Oracle on this point.
The trial date is in less than five months. Mueller suggests that Google has several options to fix this mess; among them, paying a ” very significant per-copy royalty to Oracle — possibly higher than all of Google’s current Android-related revenues,” and acknowledging Oracle’s ownership of Java by modifying the Dalvik code, thereby reducing the fragmentation issue.
My view is that Oracle wants a toll booth on the open source information highway. Google is a great test of the concept. Google is nearby, loaded with cash, and known to borrow technology without much procedural folderol; for instance, the Yahoo ad method thing that transformed Google from ideological demo to Googzilla.
(Look for more on the strategic implications of open source savvy developers for certain enterprise open source software in my Online Magazine column which will appear sometime in the next three months. Print is wonderful, no?)
Stephen E Arnold, June 17, 2011
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, the resource for enterprise search information and current news about data fusion
Comments
2 Responses to “Java: The Bitter Brew for Google and Oracle”
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
Steve’s contribution to the July/August 2011 issue of ONLINE will be out soon. It’s about open source costs and a very interesting read.
Marydee Ojala
Editor, ONLINE: Exploring Technology & Resources for Information Professionals
[…] Java: The Bitter Brew for Google and Oracle (arnoldit.com) […]