Oracle and Google are meeting in a San Francisco federal court this week to begin an intellectual property case that could have wide-ranging implications for software development.
“At issue is Java, the software platform Oracle became owner of when it acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010,” reports AllThingsD. “And the witness list will be interesting: Both Google CEO Larry Page and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison are expected to take the witness stand during the trial; as will former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz and Andy Rubin, the Google senior vice president who runs its Android and mobile operations.”
Oracle claims that Google illegally used elements of the Java programming code to build the Android OS.
Google claims the lines of code cannot be copyrighted because it would be the same as copyrighting a technique used to perform a task.
“This is a new and controversial legal argument that has software developers watching the trial closely,” suggests AllThingsD. “Google has argued that APIs shouldn’t be subject to copyright protection, because they’re more akin to tools and techniques that programmers use to build software.”
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