As many are following, this week Google CEO Larry Page gave a judicial deposition in a lawsuit filed by Oracle alleging the use of intellectual property over the Java programming language implemented on Android.
Page, who gave for two days, denied any violation of Oracle's patents and that Oracle would not have the right to apply intellectual property over certain portions of the Java language as they were made publicly available as open code for personal and corporate use.
The co-founder of Google also revealed that Android is a very important asset for the company, but does not classify it as critical. Although the issue remained on the air, analysts believe that Page tried to show the jury that the search engine would not have the need to infringe rights for the generation of profits.
The Linux-based Android kernel. It is Android applications that are written in a version of the Java programming language. In 2006, Sun Microsystems, which invented Java, placed it in the public domain.
The GNU Public License for Java explicitly allowed a user to make money from the software offered, according to data collected from Wikipedia. In mid-2009/2010, a turnaround occurs after Oracle announced the acquisition of Sun Microsystems.
Seeing that there were many companies using the acquired technology, including the almighty Google, Oracle's lawyers found a legal loophole to compel people and companies to pay for using Java.
As a result, Oracle now claims intellectual property rights to see whether companies actually used Java as a conscious violation or whether they believed they had a legal right to use Java freely.
In a testimony in the same court, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison showed his position (and that of the company) with respect to the open code: “Just because something open-source doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with it”, something devastating for those who support the development of Java.
