Technology

Oracle Loses a Court Battle But Keeps Fighting Its War With Google

After an unfavorable decision on a patent dispute, the database software company wants to hammer its rival on privacy issues.

Google and Oracle faced off at the U.S. Supreme Court on April 7 in a multibillion-dollar copyright dispute. — Google and Oracle faced off at the U.S. Supreme Court on April 7 in a multibillion-dollar copyright dispute.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

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By Naomi Nix

April 7, 2021 at 9:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the April 12, 2021 issue of businessweek.

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt Oracle Corp. a brutal defeat on April 5, ruling that Google hadn’t violated Oracle’s copyright when it used its Java programming language to develop the Android operating system. The dispute had been going on for a decade, with monumental financial stakes. By siding with Alphabet Inc.’s Google, the court reversed a ruling that could have allowed Oracle to collect about $9 billion in damages. Instead it’s coming away with nothing.

Company executives immediately shrugged off the loss, saying Oracle has other ways to keep pressuring the company it sees as its main rival. “I’ve already moved on,” says Executive Vice President Ken Glueck. “There is absolute consensus that Google is a problem, and we intend to keep pushing this.”