04.17.12
Collateral Damage in Oracle’s Case Against Android
Summary: News analysis and preparation for patent news catchup
THE lawsuits against Red Hat and Google help teach us that once someone is making money with Linux, patents come knocking on the door in pursuit of a share of the profits. As Simon Phipps recently explained, everyone loses from this practice (except lawyers). He speaks specifically about the Oracle case and it is summarised as follows:
Besides Google, biggest loser is free culture in general and open source in particular. Here’s your guide to what’s at stake
As a former manager at Sun (of Java fame), Phipps understands what’s at stake and in the rest of this month we are going to catch up with patent news that we missed in March and April (due to personal reasons).
The new Android case kicks off and Groklaw provides detailed analysis while the less legalese-savvy press follows the lead. As Pogson puts it, “Oracle [is] is clutching at straws,” for reasons we covered here before. █
walterbyrd said,
April 18, 2012 at 10:07 am
On the stand, Larry decided to be cute and claimed – under oath – that he did not know whether Java was a free language, or not.
I guess Larry wants the jury to believe that he may have filed the lawsuit by accident.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz Reply:
April 18th, 2012 at 10:53 am
He couldn’t help it. He saw his best friend Steve Jobs crying, he had to lash out at Android.
twitter said,
April 18, 2012 at 12:24 pm
I’m glad to see you come roaring back, Roy. The software patent issue is one you have a very good grip on and I like the way you put the news together.