37-43 Android Source Files Copied Line for Line From Java; Oracle Licks Their Lips
Just when you thought Oracle didn’t have a case to sue Google for patent infringement, software patent blog FOSSPatents dug up a shocking-yet-not-so-shocking revelation: 43 source files that were written specifically for Java turn up in Android’s source code. The issue here isn’t that Google “borrowed” that source code. Nor does the new heft of it give that much more weight to the case in question.
No, the real cause of concern is that Google apparently took files marked as proprietary and redistributed and relicensed them under Apache – something that Google and their partners could get into tons of trouble for. I’m not going to pretend that the 47 pages of evidence interest me – nor will I pretend I completely understand what rights and laws have been violated exactly – but those juicy details can be had by clicking this link. What I’m waiting for is a response from either Oracle or Google. This could get ugly. [via Engadget]