

Oracle has paid Google more in legal fees than it could win in damages - fpgeek
http://news.techeye.net/business/oracles-google-java-show-trial-cost-more-than-it-couldve-won

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tibbon
Perhaps its me being cynical (or ignorant), but I always say that the only
real winners of every legal battle are the lawyers.

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user23409
Yes, layers make money. But the case isn't about just money, it's about
protecting rights and setting precedence.

We unfortunately have a system that requires a large monetary allowance to
pursue or defend legal matters. But that doesn't mean you should be
discouraged from protecting your rights because of it.

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Karunamon
Reposting a dead post by FixThisPOS:

The problem is that these are bullshit "rights" to things that are not
supposed to be patentable.

A patent does not define "intellectual property", especially today.

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sunjain
I think most of the folks overlook one key point - which is the fact that this
was free publicity for Oracle. Some would say in a bad way, but that is if you
think purely from ability to use/improve open source software(which I agree).
However I also feel Oracle was in this not just from that angle but also to
show to the world that they are the owners of Java(sort of). When they bought
Sun, in essence they did become owners of Java (in a way). But this case has
probably done more to broadcast this message that than they could have done
using ads. Most of the folks know Oracle as the database company - this case
helped broadcast Java linkage of Oracle. As they say, sometimes bad publicity
is better than no publicity(you reach audience which you would never reach or
need to spend lot of money to get similar results).

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debacle
That is bad publicity for Java not good publicity for Oracle.

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sunjain
Look at from all those IT mangers/decision makers point of view at big
corporations. And there is lot of Java there in those corporations. They
previously may not have known that Oracle is linked with Java(in a big way).
Now they know.

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aggronn
honestly, as a poorly informed IT manager, i'd be more afraid that java costs
money to use, and would end up either wasting a lot of time researching
licensing information or straight up trying to move away from java

FUD is the only kind of bad publicity.

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Kadrith
I had a question along those lines come up recently where I work. Someone had
heard a little about the lawsuit and asked if there was a concern that Oracle
was suing organizations that used Java. The person I spoke with admitted that
they knew almost nothing about the issue, just that Google used Java and got
sued; and since we use Java in some cases could it mean that we were open to
the possibility of being sued by Oracle.

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ludflu
Although vanishingly unlikely, I don't think this is a bad question. You'd
have to be big enough to somehow threaten Oracle. Not many companies fit that
bill.

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mikeryan
I could be wrong but assuming Oracle won, besides damages wouldn't they have
been inline to collect ongoing licensing fees from the Android handset makers?

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wildmXranat
When you move into the new school/industry, beat up on the largest kid, just
to make point and precedent. Problem is that the kid, had support of
administrative staff. I bet that Oracle thought through this gambit and saw
this as a worth while tactic anyway.

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yock
People love to focus on the money aspect, but I'm interested in the content of
this damages claim that was apparently accepted by the court. Unfortunately, I
can't seem to find anything about the specifics of those claims.

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ritratt
It's not about the money. It's about protecting intellectual property and
setting a precedent. One does not always fight a case to gain money. It is
also about promoting ideas and values and prevent their degradation. Although
in this case Oracle's case is crap.

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dminor
* assuming it doesn't win on appeal.

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dfc
This calculus denies any value that may accrue from legal precedent.

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taligent
I think they are underestimating Larry's abilities.

If Oracle was successful it would have set a precedent that could've resulted
in them collecting royalties from other companies. A measly 300K is worth that
gamble.

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arpit
Agreed, though the gamble was more than 300K, I am sure their own legal fees
was much bigger than that.

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factorialboy
I think #EpicFail fits the description.

