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Proof That Android Copied Java Code (Or Not)

  Submitted by Geoff Floding Legal 10 Comments

“Florian Mueller has been killing it these past few months with his analysis of various tech patent suits on his FOSSpatents blog, and today he’s unearthed a pretty major bombshell: at least 43 Android source files that appear to have been directly copied from Java.” Update: ZDNet provides some compelling evidence that it’s not so.

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10 Comments

  1. 2011-01-21 6:13 pm
    sukru Silver Supporter

    It looks like the GPL stealing companies selling closed source Linux appliances, but in the reverse direction.

    I do not know how Google will escape this one. Last time they scanned and made available tons of books without asking permission from any of the copyright owners. That went well, since they had the support of libraries, and tons of money to distribute to anyone who complained. But this time, Oracle might not be easy to silence.

    • 2011-01-22 12:03 am
      glarepate

      Is it still bad?

      Will Oracle still not be quiet?

      How much do you think they will pay?

      And which party do you think will be doing the paying?

      Just kidding, OK?

      This is a good example of how things can spin out of control by being uncritically accepted and repeated without any follow-up research by the press. Not that most press outlets are qualified to research and report on something like this, but that’s even more reason to take a more reasoned approach to it.

  2. 2011-01-21 6:32 pm
    FunkyELF

    Google didn’t grab code from Oracle or even Sun. They grabbed it from Apache.

    Perhaps Apache grabbed it from Sun and took the licenses / notices off.

    And even if Apache did, who knows if those particular files had those licenses / warnings when it was copied.

    How do we know Oracle or Sun didn’t decide to re-license that stuff afterwards.

    Look at Qt. Same exact source code files can be obtained with a proprietary license as well as with a GPL license.

    Although I question it’s use, Android using Java is good for Java. Keep pissing Google off and they’ll switch to Google Go.

    • 2011-01-21 6:57 pm
      sukru Silver Supporter

      Nope they did not:

      http://blogs.apache.org/foundation/entry/read_beyond_the_headers

      Apache specifically disowns those files. They were never part of Apache’s own Harmony distribution. Only because they contain Apache License does not mean they are Apache owned. (Like Linux being GPL2 does not make if FSF’s own product).

  3. 2011-01-21 8:02 pm
    siki_miki

    Java (SE) is GPL, isn’t it? Although putting APache license on top of it is a violation, Google could get away with it by claiming it was simply an error. Given that most parts of Android “Java” core are anyway not stolen code, the lawsuit could end in a minor punishment, if any. On the other hand, if they stomp on a few submarine soft-patents, that’s a completely different problem. I wish US finally kills that broken system of patents on simple math. Oh wait, big corporations want to keep that to terrorize small business, Chinese, and everyone else.

    • 2011-01-21 8:28 pm
      jack_perry

      Java (SE) is GPL, isn’t it?

      Not according to Oracle’s website:

      Java SE continues to be available under the Sun Binary Code License (BCL) with no additional cost for its use in general purpose computing. The Java technology support and EOL roadmap provides more information. Java for Business binaries are provided under separate licensing terms.

      I have no idea whether Google can “get away with it”, though, and I don’t care to look closely enough to figure it out. IANAL.

  4. 2011-01-21 9:08 pm
    OSGuy

    I hope this is not the end for Android. If it is, my next phone will be WebOS based.

    • 2011-01-21 9:24 pm
      telns

      Meaning nothing at all against Android, thumbs up for webOS.