Oracle sues Google for patent infringement in Android OS

Oracle filed the suit against Google in the US District Court of Northern California yesterday. The filing alleges that Google's Android operating system for smartphones infringes upon seven patents and related copyrights of Oracle's Java software platform.

"By purposefully and voluntarily distributing one or more of its infringing products and services, Google has injured Oracle America and is thus liable to Oracle America for infringement of the patents at issue in this litigation," the Oracle petition stated.

Oracle has sought unspecific damages and an action against the "continued acts of infringement" by Google. Oracle had become the owner of the Java platform after its USD 5.6 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems, which was completed earlier this year.

The Java platform is especially useful as it insulates applications from dependencies on particular processors or operating systems.