Google Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Page told a federal jury in a copyright trial in San Francisco today that “I think we did nothing wrong” when Google used Java programming language in its Android software.
Page was called to the stand by Oracle Corp. attorney David Boies to testify in a lawsuit in which Oracle claims Google violated Java-related copyrights and patents on Android software it developed for mobile phones and tablets.
Redwood Shores-based Oracle, which sells business software, claims Google violated copyrights on 37 application programming interfaces, known as APIs, or blueprints for building software applications with Java language.
Google claims the programming material it used was publicly available. Page co-founded the Mountain View-based Internet search giant in 1998.
When asked by Boies whether he understood that Google could use only publicly available material and not copyrighted items, Page answered, “I’m not an expert on what we did. I think we did nothing wrong.”
Page also said he could not recall having been told by anyone on Google’s internal staff that some lines of source code in Google’s Android system appeared to be the same as lines in the APIs.
When Boies asked whether the similarities could have created by someone who was not looking at the API source codes, Page answered, “I see no reason why it shouldn’t be possible, especially if it is very short. There is only one way to write one plus one, for example.”
Page will continue on the stand in the court of U.S. District Judge William Alsup when the trial resumes on Wednesday. The trial is expected to last about two months.
Julia Cheever, Bay City News
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