Much was made earlier this month of the pledge by the multi-billionaires of the world to donate vast chunks of their personal fortunes to charitable causes. Well, we now have a possible clue as to how Oracle’s Larry Ellison expects to fund his massive donation – via proceeds from an intellectual property lawsuit against Google’s Android operating system for infringing on Oracle’s ownership of the Java platform.
While Oracle’s move is clearly infringing on traditional patent troll territory, Oracle is also demanding that all copies of Java-related work be “impounded and destroyed or otherwise reasonably disposed of.” Presumably, Oracle will soon amend its complaint to demand that the Google offices be torn down and that salt be sown in the dirt so that nothing fertile can ever again emerge, as legend has it a spiteful Rome did to the defeated Carthaginians. Read more.
