Oracle Wins Court Battle Against Google, Damages Could Mean Billions Of Dollars

With so many legal battles between tech giants these days, it can be hard to keep track of all of them. One such case that went relatively under the radar, mostly because it’s been going on for so long now, involves a copyright issue between Oracle and Google. In a rather startling development, it seems the former won against the latter. So now, Google could owe Oracle billions of dollars.

The legal kerfuffle revolves around Google using certain application program interfaces (APIs), which apparently Oracle-owned, Bloomberg reports. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided that this was in violation of the U.S. copyright laws, which gives the victory to Oracle. As a result, Google could potentially end up paying Oracle a whopping $8.8 billion.

Courts have been passing this case up and down since 2010 when Oracle first filed the lawsuit against Google. This development could also have significant effects on the software industry, mostly because the copyright case that Oracle has against Google affects its Android operating systems.

Oracle’s APIs are apparently used in the hugely popular mobile OS. This case could set a precedent for how particular programming frameworks can be used going forward. The use of APIs basically helps streamline the process of creating new software since programmers no longer need to create new code from scratch. If Oracle wins, this might need to be the case and it could mean higher costs of products.

Apparently, Google hasn’t quite decided on what to do following this loss. In a message to Engadget, the company said via a spokesperson that they are still looking at their options.

Further appealing the decision could be one of their moves, but this has already been done before and it resulted in the company losing. At this point, it seems Oracle is just poised to win, no matter what.