Android is the most widely used and dominant operating system in the smartphone world, accounting for 80% of the total market share. Oracle claims that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) used some parts of its Java technology when developing their Android operating system, and if Oracle wins this case then development all over will essentially slow down.
The case has been filed to determined whether programs connecting computer language, which is known as, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), are illegible for copyrights or not. Oracle claimed at the trail that Google trespassed on its 37 Java APIs rights for Android’s development.
Google has now filed a request to change a ruling passed by the court saying that Oracle had the right to copyright certain parts of the Java language for Programming that was used for making Android by Google. Google’s request was filed earlier this week on Monday.
This case has already taken many turns; a ruling was passed by a Federal Judge in San Francisco that Oracle did not have the right to copyright those parts; however at the start of this year the United States Court of Appeal for Federal Circuit said that Oracle indeed had the rights.
Google’s case filing states that if Federal Circuit’s ruling had been legitimized at the time when Google was formed, the company would have never been allowed to do its innovative work.
Oracle is demanding $1 Billion as compensation from Google because it believes Google used 37 API structures for its Android operating system development. High tech developers are literally holding their breath as this could have dire consequences on software innovation, and it is now up to the Supreme Court to decide the fate of this industry and how it will flow in the future.
Oracle has almost a month to file its response to the case with Supreme Court, but if Google is found guilty for copyright infringement it will be paying out huge sums of money. Representatives of Google and Oracle have yet to comment on the latest development; this issue has been ongoing for four years now when Oracle sued Google back in 2010. The case is Google Inc vs. Oracle America Inc., 14-410.
The Supreme Court is clearly the highest authority Google can go to and if it finds Google guilty of copyright infringement then mobile innovation could potentially stop at the current Android version.
After Oracle won the appeal in May 2014, it took Google four months to compose a compelling case to file with the Supreme Court, and all Android users are hoping it is compelling enough. Open source developers are outraged at the outcome of the Appeal and are hoping the Supreme Court would take the case.
Google Inc is hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will show reason and side with the tech giant. Google believes that a ruling in its favor is important for protecting high tech innovation and progress of the technological world. One cannot help but view’s Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stance as reasonable because if Oracle gets what it wants then it would be difficult to predict how tech giant will recover from the loss.
Letter of Comment