Google Need Not Pay Oracle Over Java Dispute, Jury Says

Google is now officially cleared of copyright infringement raised by Oracle regarding the use Java in Android.

A jury in San Francisco has finished deliberating on the case filed by Oracle. The company sought up to US$9 billion to cover the damages. But Google clearly won the battle.

In a written statement, Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley said, "We believe there are numerous grounds for appeal and we plan to bring this case back to the Federal Circuit on appeal."

Google, meanwhile, expressed gratitude over the jury's verdict. There was only one question stated on the special verdict form. It is to determine whether Google's use of Java Application Program Interface (API) was indeed a "fair use" as defined under the copyright law. All members of the jury answered "yes" favoring Google. The case was filed in year 2010.

During his closing arguments, Oracle attorney Peter Bricks said, "They copied 11,500 lines of code." He added: "It's undisputed. They took the code, they copied it, and put it right into Android."

But Google has argued that Java has always been free and open, and this included the use of Java APIs.

US District Judge William Alsup, said "I salute you for your extreme hard work in this case...With the thanks of your United States District Court, you are now discharged. I would like to come in the jury room and shake each of your hands individually."

The decision is also beneficial to programmers to answer the issue on the use of APIs. However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has also argued that there was an earlier decision that APIs are subject to copyright raising issues for both programmers and the public.

Oracle can still appeal on the case, but it will take again several years for the jury to reconsider the decision.