Oracles sues Google

Google vs everybody?!

Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products,and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program.

The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, often called the “Google Guys”, while the two were attending Stanford University getting their PhD’s. Google was first incorporated as a small private company on September 4th 1998, with its initial public offering to follow on August 19, 2004. The company’s stated mission from the start was “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, and the company’s unofficial slogan is Don’t be evil. In 2006, the company moved to their current headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Google runs over one million servers in data centers around the world, and processes over one billion search requests and twenty petabytes of user-generated data every day Google’s rapid growth since its incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond the company’s core search engine. The company offers online productivity software, such as its Gmail e-mail software, and social networking tools, including Orkut and, more recently, Google Buzz. Google’s products extend to the desktop as well, with applications such as the web browser Google Chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing software, and the Google Talk instant messaging application. More notably, Google leads the development of the Android mobile phone operating system, used on a number of phones such as the Nexus One and Motorola Droid. Because of its popularity and numerous products, Alexa lists Google as the Internet’s most visited website. Google is also Fortune Magazine’s fourth best place to work and BrandZ’s most powerful brand in the world. The dominant market position of Google’s services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorship.

In a press release posted Thursday, August 12, it is stated that Google’s new OS – Android allegedly infringes on Oracle patents and copyrights related to Java. “In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement,” Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said in a statement. The statement also implies that Google has been aware of this infringement, since the company hired former Sun Java engineers.

So, it seems everyone wants a piece of Google since it has been involved in so many lawsuits.

NTP Inc. a Virginia-based patent holding company founded in 1992 by the late inventor Thomas J. Campana Jr. and Donald E. Stout sued Google, Apple, Microsft, HTC, LG and Motorola claiming these major companies have unlawfully used their patents. NTP outlines its patents which revolve around e-mail systems for wireless communications. These patents were awarded to Thomas Campana, the inventor of wireless email.

Even Apple, one of Google’s former “buddies”, started a war with the company and finally sued HTC early this year. HTC, one of the companies that uses Google’s Android OS, it thought to have been sued as a way to get back at Google for entering the phone market.

Also, on July 14, 2008, Viacom compromised to protect YouTube  users’ personal data in their $1 billion copyright lawsuit. Google agreed it will make user information and internet protocol addresses from its YouTube subsidiary anonymous, before handing the data over to Viacom.

It seems being in the top five most powerful brands gets  you “some” public attention! But, then again, bad publicity is free publicity, right?!