The face-off between Oracle and Google has played out in a copyright court case, and it is an instance in which the triumph of the alleged offender is good news for the rest of us.In a matter that was closely watched by the tech world, Oracle lost its claim that Google infringed upon its copyright by using the Java programming language for the Android operating system (OS). Oracle sought US$9bn in damages from the search giant, which uses a variant of Java for its smartphone OS, the most-used platform in the world.The non-tech-savvy public can be forgiven for not caring about this latest patent feud. There has been a spate of them in recent years — including the ongoing squabble between Apple and Samsung — which all seemed to peter out with mostly inconsequential results.It’s been a bit like watching a cricket test match, filled with (short) bursts of excitement, lots of talk about strategy and far-reaching consequences, grown men behaving petulantly, only to end in a draw.So withou...
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