Dive Brief:
- Oracle is seeking $9.3 billion in damages from Google over its use of Java in Android, according to court filings, Computerworld reported Tuesday.
- Oracle alleges Google needed a license to use parts of its Java platform in Android. The company originally filed the suit against Google six years ago.
- The amount Oracle is seeking is about 10 times more than what the company asked for the last time the case went to trial.
Dive Insight:
The case centers around Google's decision to use Java as the base for its Android operating system without obtaining a license from Sun Microsystems, which was acquired by Oracle in 2010.
In 2012, a jury found Google had infringed upon Oracle’s copyright by using the "structure, sequence and organization" of 37 Java application programming interfaces in Android.
But William Alsup, the trial judge, later ruled that application program interfaces (APIs) aren't eligible for protection under U.S. copyright law, according to Computerworld. Later, an appeals court overturned that ruling. Google’s appeal to the Supreme Court was declined. The companies are due back in federal district court in San Francisco for a new trial set to begin May 9.
Google has argued its use of Java is covered by fair use, but Oracle alleges Google chose to use Java because of the popularity of the program. Google simply wanted to get its operating system out before others took hold, Oracle alleges.
Last week, Oracle sued Hewlett Packard Enterprise in federal District Court in Northern California for copyright infringement centered around a third-party maintenance and support dispute
