Google says Oracle Android suit disingenuous

Google today formally responded to Oracle's anti-Android lawsuit by motioning to dismiss the case. The search firm accused Oracle of violating the "doctrine of unclean hands" by willingly changing its approach after buying Sun. Oracle as late as 2009 had been calling for Sun to open-source the Java code at the heart of the suit but, having acquired Sun, is now refusing to do the same and suing now that it has a vested interest in profiting from patent disputes.

"It's disappointing that after years of supporting open source, Oracle turned around to attack not just Android, but the entire open source Java community with vague software patent claims," Google said in a public statement. "Open platforms like Android are essential to innovation, and we will continue to support the open source community to make the mobile experience better for consumers and developers alike."

The Android maker called on the court to not only dismiss the lawsuit as lacking evidence but asked for a declaration that it didn't infringe on any of the patents, preventing any further lawsuits. Oracle was further accused of violating lache doctrines, or knowingly sitting on patent claims, and of making statements that have legally been proven false. Google would ask that Oracle pay all the court costs if the lawsuit is dismissed.

Google has always maintained that Android is free to license and open source but has come under increasing scrutiny for allegedly violating patents. Its custom Java compiler for Android 2.2, Dalvik, is believed to be under inspection in the Oracle lawsuit. Microsoft is also waging a proxy war against Google by suing companies like HTC and Motorola that make Android phones, similar to how it has tried to intimidate firms using Linux.

Other phone builders like Apple have also faced patent lawsuits, but usually over hardware-related issues or technology independent of device-specific code, such as 3G. [via AllThingsD]

By Electronista Staff

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