Jury decides Java copyright lawsuit in favor of Google

A US jury has unanimously decided in favor of Google in the case between Oracle and Google. This means that Google does not have to pay the 9 billion dollars that Oracle might demand. The company found that Google had infringed on its Java copyrights.

For example, a large part of the Android APIs are said to be based on Java; in Oracle’s eyes, this amounted to copying it. Google used the argument that this was about fair use and that Java had been used to innovate and not to copy, so reports Bloomberg. The jury was ultimately convinced of Google’s arguments. Oracle says it plans to appeal, but it seems difficult to overturn a jury verdict. The case has been ongoing since 2010 and in 2012 a jury was unable to reach a verdict.

If the lawsuit had ended in Oracle’s favor, it would have had far-reaching consequences for software copyright, and APIs in particular. This may have resulted in more lawsuits by rights holders. At an earlier stage, Oracle claimed that Google had made approximately $ 22 billion in profit with Android, which means that the requested compensation also amounted to a high amount. However, it is not clear how much Oracle would have demanded in the end.

In an email to Bloomberg, Google said it considers the ruling a “win for the Android ecosystem, for the Java community, and for software developers.”