Case Filed: Oct 19, 2012
Case Closed: May 09, 2014
Origin Case: 3:10-cv-03561
Case Summary:
The database software company, Oracle
filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Google in August 2010 over the use
of Java in Google’s Android mobile operating system (OS). The complaint also claimed
copyright infringement asserting Google’s Android infringes Oracle America’s
copyrights in Java. The suit was filed in the District Court of California.
Patents-in-suit:
The U.S patents involved in the
suit are:
Patent Number
Current Assignee[i]
|
Title
|
Issue
Date
|
Expiration
Date[ii]
|
|
Sun
|
Method and apparatus for pre-processing and packaging class files
|
Oct 12, 1999
|
Oct 31, 2017
|
|
Sun
|
Method and system for performing static initialization
|
May 09, 2000
|
Apr 07, 2018
|
|
Sun
|
Protection domains to provide security in a computer system
|
Sep 26, 2000
|
Dec 11, 2017
|
|
Sun
|
Controlling access to a resource
|
Feb 20, 2001
|
Dec 11, 2017
|
|
Sun
|
Interpreting functions utilizing a hybrid of virtual and native
machine instructions
|
Jun 21, 2005
|
Jul 12, 2022
|
|
Sun
|
System and method for dynamic preloading of classes through memory
space cloning of a master runtime system process
|
Sep 16, 2008
|
Dec 22, 2023
|
|
Sun
|
Method and apparatus for resolving data references in generated code
|
Apr 29, 2003
|
Dec 22, 2012
|
Assignee
information sourced from MaxVal’s Assignment
Database.
As in
complaint:
According to the complaint, one
of the most important technologies Oracle acquired with Sun was the Java
platform.
The Android OS software “stack”
consists of Java applications running on a Java-based object-oriented
application framework and core libraries running on a “Dalvik” virtual machine
(VM) that features just-in-time (JIT) compilation. Android and devices that
operate Android infringed one or more claims of the patents-in-suit.
Oracle sought permanent enjoinment
of continued acts of infringement of the patents and copyrights at issue in
this litigation.
District Court:
The jury found no patent
infringement and as to copyright infringement, jury found that Google infringed
Oracle’s copyrights in the 37 Java packages and a specific computer routine called
“rangeCheck,” but returned a non-infringement verdict as to eight decompiled
security files. The jury deadlocked on Google’s fair use defense.
Shortly after the verdict, the
district court issued its decision on copyrightability, finding that the replicated
elements of the 37 API packages—including the declaring code and the structure,
sequence, and organization—were not subject to copyright protection. Accordingly,
the district court entered final judgment in favor of Google on Oracle’s
copyright infringement claims, except with respect to the rangeCheck code and
the eight decompiled files.
Appeal Court:
Oracle appealed from the portion
of the final judgment entered against it, and Google cross-appealed the portion
of that same judgment entered in favor of Oracle as to the rangeCheck code and
eight decompiled files.
Appeal court reversed the
district court’s copyrightability determination with instructions to reinstate
the jury’s infringement finding as to the 37 Java packages and remanded for
further consideration of Google’s fair use defense.
See 2013-1021
for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our
Litigation Alerts.
Max-Insight enables you to access all of our patent tools such
as Patent Term Estimator, Patent Family Tree, Has This Patent Been Litigated,
etc. in one location. Max-Insight is available in 4 different
subscriptions: Free, Bronze, Silver and Gold with
varying usage levels. To learn more about Max-Insight, click here.
[i]
MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service
where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target
applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.
[ii]
Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator
is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and
expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.