Report: Sun CEO OK'ed Android Java Use Google is Being Sued For

From DailyTech: Google Inc. has a way of pulling rabbits out of a hat when it comes to defending itself from seemingly impending legal demise. Not long ago it defeated cable giant Viacom, Inc. in a $1B USD court battle, when it proved that Viacom employees had secretly uploaded files to YouTube to try to frame it in infringement.

Now, a bombshell piece of evidence has just been delivered in the company's $2.6B USD court battle with Oracle Corp. (ORCL), which threatens to be equally damaging to the rival software makers' intellectual property infringement claims.

Oracle's guiding premise in its lawsuit against Google is that Google infringed upon Java patents, which it obtained when it purchased Sun Microsystems in January 2010. Just days ago, a judge ruled that Google appeared "brazen" in its alleged infringement based on email evidence Oracle presented.

Now a lost internet treasure has surfaced that promises to cast those emails in a whole new light. Legal site Groklaw has unearthed a Sun Microsystems blog dating back to 2007 that offers an explosive revelation -- Sun appears to have verbally endorsed Google's use of mobile Java in Android.

A compelling case is emerging for so-called "reliance based enstoppel". Here's how this works. If one company says something to another (say that they aren't going to enforce a particular piece of intellectual property) -- and then they turn around and sue that company after they relied on their advice, that is sufficient to typically drop the case if the accused can prove it was relying on the plaintiff's advice.

In this case Google is building a strong case to prove that it relied on Sun's assurances that it would not litigate with regards to the use of Java. Mr. Schwartz has already given a sworn deposition that he publicly stated that Android was a "pair of rockets strapped to Java that will take our Java-community even higher."

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