Google argued that because it used only a small part of Java to create Android, a much larger system of software built for a new objective, it qualified for a “fair use” exemption from copyright.
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Oracle said it will appeal against the latest verdict on “numerous grounds”.
Google countered that the Java language was free to use and this also includes the re-implementation of its APIs. General counsel for Oracle said in a statement: “Oracle brought this lawsuit to put a stop to Google’s illegal behavior”.
Google, meanwhile, is happy.
After a federal appeals court reversed that in 2014 and said the Java APIs could be considered copyrighted material, Google went back to district court to argue that its use of Java was protected under fair use rules.
“The Google verdict is an an important validation of the idea that developing interoperable software need not require permission or a license”.
It was made clear quite recently in these parts that many software developers were falling on the side of Google in this case given the potential damaging ramifications of an Oracle court victory, and it’s not just the supposed $9.6bn it was looking for in damages.
In after-hours trading, shares in Oracle were down 0.2 percent and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, were up about 0.2 percent.
Oracle said Thursday its battle was not over. During the development of the Android operating system, Google used 37 APIs built with the open-sourced standard edition Java Platform (J2SE). Judge Alsup’s ruling that legal rights can not be issued to APIs was overturned in an appeal.
In 2012, the companies took the issue to court but the jury was unable to determine whether Google used Java application programming interfaces (APIs) fairly.
Supporters of Google, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EEF), applauded the jury verdict. At one point during deliberations, the panel was stymied by a jury-room computer overwhelmed by the millions of lines of code that Oracle lawyers had included as evidence for them to consider.
The jury in San Francisco agreed that copyright law allowed “fair use” of the Java elements.
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Google claimed it was within its rights to use the organization and labeling of the Java code to develop Android because programmers were already familiar with them, Ochoa said.
