Oracle Sues Google For Huge Piece Of Android Pie

Oracle sues Google for huge piece of Android pie

San Francisco - Google's Android is the most popular mobile operating system on the planet. But is it stolen?

That is the question a court will have to decide after business software giant Oracle sued Google for billions of dollars, claiming that Android infringes on patents and copyrights associated with Java, the software Oracle acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems last year.

Oracle originally filed the claim last year, but the level of damages was only revealed Thursday in papers filed in the US District Court of San Francisco in which Oracle opposed Google's attempts to seal documents detailing Oracle's claims.

The claim centres on the part of the Google software that runs Android applications. Oracle claims that Google did not apply for a license to use Java in the product. Google denies the claim, arguing that the patents are invalid and not infringed.

The lawsuit could have a huge impact on the distribution of Android, which according to research firm IDC is expected to have a 40 per cent share of the global smartphone market in the second half of 2011

-- The Nation 2011-06-17