Google's use of Java in Android is worth $9.3 billion, according to Oracle

Google is being sued by Oracle for $9.3 billion for its use of Java APIs in Android, an internal Oracle report reveals. Not surprisingly, Google is contesting the damages claim, continuing to assert its use of Oracle’s code fell under “fair use” policies.

In Oracle’s initial claim against Google six years ago, the company asserted that “in developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for the their infringement.”

The last time Oracle took Google to trial in the long-running case, “appropriate remedies” were calculated to be around one-tenth of the current figure. The success of the Android platform and the smartphone market’s explosion in recent years are the reasoning behind the massive price hike.

The new trial will begin on May 9 in a San Francisco federal district courtroom and will include six additional versions of Android that make use of Oracle’s Java APIs, up to and including Lollipop. As you may recall, the Android N release has finally made the switch to OpenJDK APIs (it is uncertain where Android Marshmallow fits in the latest court case).

[related_videos title=”ANDROID IN VIDEO:” align=”center” type=”custom” videos=”681016,678734,669688,540380″]

Google has also hired a damages expert to calculate a reasonable sum, one that will certainly be significantly smaller than Oracle’s claim. Google has already blasted Oracle’s claims, asserting the company has improperly inflated the value of the 37 Java APIs with the vale of the entirety of Android. Despite being six years in, this case looks to be no closer to being settled.

What do you think of Dalvik? Is it simply a rewritten version of Java or a transformative adaptation?