In 2010, Oracle sued Google for using Java API’s in its market-leading mobile OS – Android. In 2012, both the tech companies went to trial over the matter, but the jury couldn’t decide whether the search engine giant’s use of Java in Android was protected by fair use or not – Because it permits copying under limited circumstances.
Now, Oracle seeks $9.3 billion in damages from Google for using Java API’s in Android. The tech giants will be heading back to San Francisco’s federal district court for a new trial that starts from May 9. Google’s Eric Schmidt and Oracle’s Larry Ellison are expected to be present during the trial.
Actually, Oracle isn’t the original owner of Java. It was developed by Sun Microsystems, which was acquired by Oracle in 2010. After the acquisition, Oracle immediately sued the search giant for infringing on its copyright for Java.
Oracle’s report on damages
According to a report compiled by Oracle’s own damages expert, Google should pay $475 million of actual damages plus $8.83 billion from profits it made off Android, which includes apps and mobile advertising.
The Mountain View Company has condemned the computation and said that Oracle can only seek for damages computed from profits where the actual infringing code was used. Google was said to be infringing only 37 Java APIs, which is a small fraction of the total Android codebase. According to Google’s computation, damages should be approximately $100 million only.
Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment on the issue while Google didn’t respond to requests for comment. It is expected that the compensation demanded by Oracle could be reduced before the case gets to trial.
Oracle and Google representatives will meet on April 27 in the previously mentioned pre-trial hearing. Can both the tech giants reach a settlement? Let’s see what happens when the trial starts on May 9th.