Why software patents are a joke, literally
In my last article, I mentioned that a patent from Gosling was one of seven cited in Oracle’s lawsuit. These patents are among those that Oracle acquired when they bought Sun earlier this year. James isn’t saying where these entries rated on the “goofy patent” scale, if at all. But another former Sun employee, Charles Nutter, has written a more detailed analysis. When considering whether or not the suit has merit, he states:
The collection of patents specified by the suit seems pretty laughable to me.
more on zdnet.com
In other words, Oracle just wanted to exploit these Java patents, regardless of their actual merit.
