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Boy, Judge Alsup isn’t going to like this one bit. I don’t remember seeing this one myself (wasn’t a huge Sun blog reader), but apparently Sun Microsystems’ CEO posted a blog entry in 2007 giving 100% approval of Java’s use inside Android. In his words:
I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of others from Sun in offering my heartfelt congratulations to Google on the announcement of their new Java/Linux phone platform, Android. Congratulations!
Sounds like he and the entire company were flattered to have Google use Java as a base for the platform. He goes on to mention their support of Android inside their NetBeans platform, saying they’d be the first outlet to commit to completely supporting Google’s new platform when developers eventually flock to it.
Remember, this all happened before Oracle acquired Sun. Fast forward to today, and guess where that post is? Gone. Deleted, with little trace of its existence on Sun’s actual site. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for Oracle, this is the internet – nothing is ever truly deleted from the internet.
Oracle has been accused of deleting this post to keep it from hurting their case against Google, but the discovery of its disappearance – and confirmation that Oracle was behind said disappearance – could actually hurt them.
Oracle has been seeking claims of $2.6 billion against Google for patent infringement, an outrageous number that the judge overseeing the case thought was ridiculous enough to suggest they go back to the drawing board and rethink how much they really think they’re owed.
Google has had the full support of the development community behind them, but the judge will ultimately make a decision based only on facts and laws, not on what everyone thinks or feels is right or wrong.
This long lost blog post serves as a piece of evidence that could change the landscape of the case. It could be thrown out altogether, in fact, if Sun is found to have supported Google and Android during that time.
If Sun had these patents and knew full well that Google was using Java without having to pay for a license, that’s great leverage. Not only did they know, but they endorsed it. There’s a legal process that allows a judge to rule in favor of the defense – Google, in this case – called estoppel. I’d say this one certainly fits the definition of the process.
It probably would have been better for Oracle had they just left that blog post alone, but I can see this one getting ugly for them real quick. Developments from here on out will be interesting, to say the least. An excerpt from the blog post by Sun’s CEO in 2007 is below. [Android & Me]
I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of others from Sun in offering my heartfelt congratulations to Google on the announcement of their new Java/Linux phone platform, Android. Congratulations!
I’d also like Sun to be the first platform software company to commit to a complete developer environment around the platform, as we throw Sun’s NetBeans developer platform for mobile devices behind the effort. We’ve obviously done a ton of work to support developers on all Java based platforms, and were pleased to add Google’s Android to the list.And needless to say, Google and the Open Handset Alliance just strapped another set of rockets to the community’s momentum – and to the vision defining opportunity across our (and other) planets.
Today is an incredible day for the open source community, and a massive endorsement of two of the industry’s most prolific free software communities, Java and Linux.
Full post is here, cached by the Wayback Machine.
The article’s title with the picture of the shredded paper is just perfect.
Uh-Oh…something sure smells of cover-up! Whoops…good going Oracle
Oracle Case = Epic Fail
Oracle just bought themselves 1) a brutal tongue lashing from the judge, and 2) a quick dismissal of the case 5 minutes later.
Now that Google is raking in Billions of dollars, Oracle wants a piece of that pie that was previously and generously handed over to them from SUN before the merger. HAHA, TOO LATE SO SORRY!!! LOL
Haha suckers!
I think this is the trump card that makes the google email nearly moot. Patent trolling lawsuits need to stop.
The best part of this? They tried to hide a web page…from Google!
LMAO!!!
Did they now?!?!?
I dont know whats gonna be more interesting…this or the Apple vs the world lawsuits…
I cant wait til Engadget gets a hold of this..its gonna be a 4000+ post article…
Engadget wont write about this because they are Apple fans and most of there articles are biased!
I agree completely to you.
“Fortunately for us and unfortunately for Oracle, this is the internet – nothing is ever truly deleted from the internet.”
While I’m glad that Android has a chance to come out of all this royalty free, is archiving everything legal? Who is archiving all this stuff in the first place?
It’s called the “Internet Archive” it’s been around for ages and ages…. caching webpages as a point in time since like 1998 or something. http://www.archive.org
“Full post is here, cached by the Wayback Machine.”
The people behind the “Wayback machine” would be the ones archiving all of this. I would guess that as long as there isn’t some copyright attached then it is free game to legally archive it.
Even if there is copyright attached, archival has certain exemptions. For example, the Library of Congress is allowed to make copies in order to ensure they have archival copies of things that may still be under copyright but are out of print.
Smooth Oracle, real smooth. I remember when this case began I was fearing for Android’s future. Now my fears of the Android after Ice Cream Sandwich (Jelly Donut?) never coming to be have been abated. It’s starting to look like even if Oracle does win, Google won’t take a very hard blow and it will still be very much profitable to OEMs to produce Android handsets.
Oracle probably took into account the $$$ they can get from google when they acquired Sun…….it’s really just business. Dirty tactics…..but it’s all business.
Is it really possible to delete something from the Internet? No seriously, I need to know!
No…because Google has taken a “snapshot” of almost every webpage on the internet for the past who knows how long.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features_list.html#cached
Im sure if you really want to…you can use Google to bring it back up just the way it used to be…even after x amount of years.
Oracle just lost the little credibility the had left.
I don’t know that this is worth celebrating over. A blog post is hardly a legal terms of use agreement. Just because the CEO is thanking Google for using Java doesn’t mean that they don’t expect to receive a cut of the profits. From a purely legal standpoint, I doubt that this could be used as evidence supporting Google. HOWEVER, if it can be proven that Oracle deleted this blog post because of the lawsuit at hand, they could theoretically be accused of intentionally destroying evidence, which I believe is a very serious charge. It will be interesting to see what Judge Alsup does with this information, if anything at all.
Google has actually used that information for their defense already.
It’s interesting to read the comments on that blog. Many appear to be from shareholder.. complaining about how Sun isn’t monetizing Java more than they are (were).