In Google’s drawn-out court proceedings regarding Oracle’s accusations that the search giant infringed upon Java API patents in the development of its Android operating system, a jury has just found that no copyrights were violated.
Google released a statement on the matter – “Today’s jury verdict that Android does not infringe Oracle’s patents was a victory not just for Google but the entire Android ecosystem.”
The trial had been down to a jury ruling on the APIs since last week, after 18 months of litigation, which at times looked like Google might be shelling out a billion dollars in damages – in a trial that had the potential to reshape the entire concept of fair use in software development. And beyond money and legality, the case displayed an air of corporate hubris, with overtly tanned and jetliner-owning CEOs acting flippant on the stand, while some of the best attorneys money can buy actually took the time to learn how to traverse the sort of Java scripts Google manipulated while building Android.
Though, for the last while, it looked more and more like Oracle really didn’t have much of a case, and the jury has finally spoken. Google’s Matt Cutts has already taken to Twitter with news of the ruling:
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Matt Cutts
@mattcutts In Oracle vs. Google: “The jury verdict is in. They found no infringement of the patents”: http://t.co/VsIatN1G
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