subject: Oracle Alleges Google For Copyright Infringement: U.s. Jury Found Google Partially Liable [print this page] After the recent legal tussle between Apple and Samsung, once again the copyright infringement issue has cropped up between Oracle and Google. Oracle has blamed Google and alleged that the latter has committed copyright infringement related to Java programming language held by Oracle.
It was not easy for the jury to decide whether Google has gone beyond the permitted line in developing their products or their act be placed within the purview of fair use within the legally allowed limit. The concept of Fair use is going to play an important role in this case because if Google has used the Java programming language, they will not be legally subjected to any compensation as this will not amount to copyright infringement.
On May 7, 2012 the jury after long contemplation observed and wrote in their judgment that Google has infringed some of Oracles copyrights on the Java programming language. The lawsuit that was initiated in 2010 and focused on Googles Android operating system is still not over as Google is planning to challenge the jurys verdict.
Reacting to the jurys observation, Google said that it has not violated patents held by Oracle. It has also asserted that Oracle cannot copyright certain parts of Java as this is an "open-source," or publicly available software programming language.
In the preliminary phase of the trial, it was expected that Google may be pressed to pay around $6.1 billion as damage to Oracle. However, Google successfully reduced the extent of the damage by nullifying some of Oracles infringement claims.
After the jury verdict Google spokesman acknowledged the efforts of Jury in understanding the matter to the core and guiding the trial in the right direction. Oracle also welcomed the judgment and said that the evidences produced before the jury revealed that Google knew it well that they require a license to use Java for the development of their Android mobile operating system.
However, the jury has taken a stand in the trial by making Google liable for partial copyright infringement, still it needs to be further examined to determine the precise culpability. It looks still far when this legal battle between two IT giants will be over.
