Google to Pay ‘Zero’ Damages to Oracle in Android Lawsuit

Oracle on Wednesday agreed to accept $0 in damages for the outstanding copyright infringement claims in its lawsuit against Google over its use of Java in Android in order to conclude the trial and move onto its appeal.
Google to Pay ‘Zero’ Damages to Oracle in Android Lawsuit
Oracle headquarters is seen through trees on March 20, 2012 in Redwood Shores, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Oracle on Wednesday agreed to accept $0 in damages for the outstanding copyright infringement claims in its lawsuit against Google over its use of Java in Android in order to conclude the trial and move onto its appeal.

Although Google was cleared in May of most of the infringement claims in the lawsuit, it was found to have copied a few small portions of Oracle’s Java code.

“The parties agreed we need to resolve the question of statutory damages now to resolve any outstanding issues in the final judgment,” Michael Jacobs, Oracle’s lead attorney, told the judge on Wednesday, according to PC World.

Filed two years ago, Oracle’s lawsuit accused Google of violating its Java patents and copyrights in Google’s Android operating system. Yet the judge ruled in May that the application programming interfaces, which were at the center of the accusation, were not eligible for copyright protection under U.S. law. Moreover, the jury found that Google had not infringed Oracle’s patents.

Google did copy a small portion of the Java code though, but Oracle would only be able to claim statutory damages that usually would not exceed a few hundred thousand dollars.

Instead of claiming the money, Oracle said it will appeal its larger claims in the case, including whether its APIs can be copyrighted, to the Ninth Circuit appeals court.

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