Google Suit: Now We Know What Java Means To Oracle

Oracle’s law suit against Google finally reveals just how valuable Java is to the giant software company and how it intends to make money from the asset.

The Java and open source community’s collective jaw dropped today as Oracle launched a patent suit against Google, claiming it infringed Java patents in the Android mobile operating system.

Some expressed surprise, as Sun Microsystems open-sourced Java, and issued a patent grant before Oracle bought the company, which they believe should make Java free to use. Bruce Perens, quoted the list of demands in the patent grant, saying: “It’s not clear what Oracle is after. Could it be that Google’s Java implementation does not meet the above requirements?”

It is indeed possible. Android’s creator, in an eWEEK interview last year, warned that Google’s free-and-easy approach with Java was in conflict with Sun’s Java approach. Miguel de Icaza has described the likely breakdown of relations between Sun and Google over the use of Java in Android, and the way in which the resulting situation could have been spun into a shining asset for a buyer of Sun – especially a giant, litigious one.

Since leaving Oracle, Sun’s CEO, Jonathan Schwartz has described the horse trading around patents which Sun got into. Both Apple and Microsoft came asking for money for patents they thought Sun had infringed – and in each case, Schwartz countered with technology on which Sun could countersue. In most cases patent suits don’t happen at all, because licensing terms, and cross-licensing terms get agreed.

Google’s Android is already under patent attack from Apple: Apple’s suit against HTC is widely seen as a way to get at Android, despite the fact that the operating system is open source. Meanwhile of course Nokia is suing Apple, and Apple is counter-suing.

Moving away from Java?

The eventual loser from all of this will probably be Java. Despite its widespread use, there are alternatives, and now it is clear that Oracle wants to use its Java patents to get money out of companies that have big pockets, other players may be less willing to use the Java language.

Even if Oracle loses the case, Java could be seriously hurt by the protracted legal tussle.

De Icaza suggests that Google may be able to move its Android OS away from Java to another lauguage, possibly Microsoft’s C#, which has similar patent grants.

“I can not help to think (sic) that Google could migrate Android from Java to the ECMA/ISO CIL and C#,” said de Icaza, pointing out that Microsof’t patent grants are more generous. “Additionally, Microsoft has placed the .NET Micro Edition entirely under the Microsoft Public License which comes with an even more generous patent grant, and covers a superset of the code covered by ECMA/ISO 335.”

The technology is available in open source implementations and is “ideal for mobile platforms,” he said. “Google could settle current damages with Oracle, and switch to the better designed, more pleasant to use, and more open .Net platform.”

Obviously, he has a certain bias, but it seems that Java will suffer.