‘Oracle starts addressing customers about Java licensing costs’

Six years after the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Oracle begins addressing customers for violations of Java SE licenses. The company has expanded its license management department to ask customers to settle arrears.

The site The Register spoke to several individuals approached by Oracle in the second half of this year and expects the company to approach more enterprises in 2017. Many companies would not know that Java SE is free for ‘general purposes’, but that other applications have to be paid for. This includes applications in smartphones, handhelds and Blu-ray players. The distinction is difficult to make, however, because there are no separate downloads for the two versions, according to The Register.

For example, Java SE Desktop, Advanced, and Suite are all part of Java SE, but they are not free. The CEO of compliance company Palisade Compliance explains to the site that Java is believed to be free because it is open source. Another expert, who wishes to remain anonymous, says the term “common usage” is vaguely defined, causing a lot of conflict. For example, if a company passes Java on to end users, it is no longer seen as common use and Oracle wants payment.

License fees range from $40 to $300 per user and $5,000 to $15,000 per processor. According to The Register, Oracle’s license management department grew by 20 this year and the company is only now taking action because it took a long time to visualize its customers.