Group items tagged

Any company that commits to the terms of the Defensive Patent License would have to pledge all of the patents it owns to this league of do-gooders. Any other member of the league would gain a free license to any other member’s patents, and no one in the league would be allowed to launch offensive patent lawsuits against other members of the league. Doing so would be grounds for the member to have its license revoked.

Regardless of the likelihood of success, it’s an intriguing idea. Even if it has no impact on the IBMs and Microsofts of the world, it might make trouble for patent trolls. If a patent has been de-weaponized, there’s no reason for a troll to buy it, Schultz said. “The trolls won’t go after the DPL people because they already have an irrevocable license, forever, for free,” he said. “We think this will decrease the weapon supply of trolls.”

The judge still needs to decide if APIs can be copyrighted, which is the only count Google lost in phase one. If the judge decides they are not, then it becomes much harder for Oracle to continue on.

Oracle is likely to seek an appeal, but even if it gets another shot, the information coming from jurors makes it clear that Oracle’s arguments were not even close to convincing.

Oracle might still end up with some kind of payout in the future, depending on how judge Aslup decides on the remaining issues. There might even need to be another jury to decide on damages later, but right now, Oracle has won essentially nothing.