Oracle, mobile vendor in Java legal battle

IDG News Service - Oracle and Swiss mobile software platform vendor Myriad Group are locked in a legal battle over Java licensing issues, one with an apparent connection to Google.

Myriad filed suit against Oracle on Dec. 10 in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging that Oracle was overcharging it for the use of Java in its products.

The dispute stems from the Java Community Process program and the related Java Specification Participation Agreement, which were started by Sun Microsystems, a company Oracle acquired early this year.

Sun formed the JCP in order to get the help of independent companies in developing Java for various uses, while ensuring the language remained standardized and cross-compatible.

"By signing the JSPA, a company joined the JCP and licensed its IP rights to the other members, receiving reciprocal licenses in return," Myriad's complaint states. "These licenses were granted both so that the contracting parties could develop new [Java Specification Requests] in cooperation with each other, and so that they individually could develop software that conformed to those specifications."

Under the agreement, Sun was supposed to license "certain of [its] intellectual property (IP) rights applicable to Java, either royalty-free or on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms," the complaint adds. "Sun has consistently failed to honor those licenses."

In addition, Myriad maintains it has never used code from HotSpot, one of two Java virtual machines developed by Sun and now Oracle. But Myriad was required to enter a Sun Community Source License for use of Sun's HotSpot code, according to the complaint. Sun imposed "unfair, unreasonable and discriminatory royalty-based terms" and also required Myriad to sign a master support agreement, it adds.

Myriad is seeking at least $120 million, representing an amount "Sun has wrongfully demanded and received from Myriad and its customers," as well as other damages.

Oracle filed a suit against Myriad on the same day in U.S. District for the Northern District of California.

Neither Sun nor Oracle have "unconditionally granted rights under its intellectual property to use or implement the Java technology without restriction," it states. Companies that want to distribute Java must first make sure their implementations pass a series of tests, provided by Oracle's TCKs (technology compatibility kits).

Myriad's predecessor, Esmertec, signed license agreements with Sun in 2002 for use of the Connected Limited Device Configuration and Mobile Information Device Profile 2.0, which required it to pay royalties, Oracle said.

The companies formed other licensing agreements in 2003, 2006 and June 2009, the complaint adds.

But later that year, Myriad "demanded that it be provided new licensing terms under the JSPA," Oracle said. "In December 2009, Myriad informed Oracle for the first time that it was 'working under the JSPA' and 'that its independent implementations, as such do not require the commercial licenses but are to be granted royalty-free.'"