It was said by Oracle Thursday that it has filed suit against Google for infringing on patents and copyright related to Java, which Oracle owned along with Sun Microsystems earlier this year. Oracle claimed Google “knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property.” a very vague statement that has more specific detail in the suit itself. Oracle specified in the complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, that “Android (including the Android software development kit) and devices that operate Android infringe one or more claims of each of United States Patents Nos. 6,125,447; 6,192,476; 5,966,702; 7,426,720; RE38,104; 6,910,205; and 6,061,520.
One interesting aspect is that a Google representative said the company had not yet been served with the lawsuit, and therefore couldn’t comment until it had a chance to review it. An Oracle representative declined to comment beyond the complaint. One more interesting factor is that Oracle is saying that Google knew about their patent portfolio for years. They have also said, “Google hired certain former Sun Java engineers.”
One thing can surely be said for Google. Things have not been going so good for them this week. From the negative net neutrality comments they’ve proposed to being called carrier humping surrender monkeys. Now they are being sued. Hopefully Google can bounce back from all of these negative events.