Google Calls Oracle's Java Patents Invalid, Seeks Dismissal Of Lawsuit

Google denies that its Android mobile operating system violates Java patents and copyrights now held by Oracle and in a court filing calls for an Oracle lawsuit against Google to be dismissed and the patents to be declared invalid.

Google also said that by suing Google as it did back in August, Oracle has turned against the kind of open-source policies it used to support.

Oracle sued Google Aug. 12 charging that Google's use of Java in Android violated seven patents as well as copyrighted material Oracle acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems in January for $7.3 billion.

In a response filed late Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Google denied Oracle's infringement claims and asked the judge overseeing the case to declare the patents invalid and unenforceable.

Sun released parts of the Java platform as open-source technology prior to the Oracle acquisition and the legal dispute between Oracle and Google seems to revolve around the legal status of the Java virtual machine and Google's JVM implementation.

Next: Google Says Android Has Boosted Java Adoption

Google, in its 27-page filing, argued that Sun released the JVM specifications in such a way that software developers could build their own implementations and that Google largely developed its own JVM known as the "Dalvik VM." But Sun never released the Java test compatibility kit under an open-source license as it did with many other Java components.

Google also takes Oracle to task noting that before it bought Sun it had called upon the computer maker to open-source all Java technology. By filing the lawsuit, Google said, Oracle has taken the opposite position.

At the Oracle OpenWorld conference last month Oracle executives vowed to maintain the open-source status of Java technologies that are already available under open-source licenses.

Google notes that there are some 90 Android-based handsets from some 20 manufacturers on the market and Google activates some 200,000 Android handsets every day. "Android's popularity has proven to be a catalyst for the Java open source community and the increased use of the Java programming language," the Google document said.

"In developing Android, Google chose to use Java code without obtaining a license. Additionally, it modified the technology so it is not compliant with Java's central design principle to 'write once and run anywhere.' Google's infringement and fragmentation of Java code not only damages Oracle, it clearly harms consumers, developers and device manufacturers," said an Oracle spokesperson.