評論
打印
Business
商業報道
Intellectual property in Silicon Valley
硅谷知識產權之爭
Rumble in the Java jungle
Java叢林大戰
The legal fight between Oracle and Google is arcane, but the stakes are high
甲骨文和谷歌之間的訴訟晦澀難解，牽涉的商業利益卻是非常巨大
LARRY ELLISON and Larry Page, the bosses of Oracle and Google, share a name.
甲骨文的老板拉里·埃里森和谷歌的老板拉里·佩奇都有一個相同的名字，
But they clearly do not share the same view of a particular intellectual property matter.
但他們在某些知識產權問題上的看法卻是迥然不同。
On April 16th a jury began hearing arguments in a trial to determine whether Google's Android operating system infringes copyrights and patents owned by Oracle.
4月16日，為確定谷歌的安卓操作系統是否侵犯了甲骨文的版權和專利，陪審團開始聽取法庭辯論。
The outcome could shake up the Android world of more than 300m mobile devices.
審理的結果也許會震動安卓業界，這一產業涵蓋了超過3億部的移動設備。
The judge has called the trial the World Series of IP cases. That sounds about right—though both firms are far more global than the baseball contest in the analogy.
法官將這次審判稱為知識產權案件中的總冠軍賽2.這樣說起來大概不錯，雖然拿來類比的兩家公司可比這項棒球賽事國際化多了。
Oracle is hoping to hit a legal home run—and win 1 billion in damages—by showing that Google failed to pay for its use of Java,
甲骨文希望通過證明谷歌使用Java沒有付費，在法律上打出一記全壘打，贏得10億美元的賠償金。
a programming language which Oracle inherited when it bought Sun Microsystems in 2010, and on which Android is based.
Java是一種編程語言，甲骨文2010年收購Sun微系統后將其接手，它也是安卓的基礎。
Google says it has done nothing wrong.
谷歌表示自己沒有任何過錯。
The trial is delving into the complex world of computer programming and providing fascinating glimpses of the inner workings of the two tech giants.
案件的審理是對復雜的計算機編程業界的深入研究，也讓眾人對兩大技術巨擎的內部運作有機會驚鴻一瞥。
In testimony this week, for instance, Mr Ellison revealed that Oracle had considered buying Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry.
例如，埃里森先生本周在作證時就披露甲骨文曾考慮過收購RIM。
But at the heart of the case lies the thorny issue of whether copyright law applies to application programming interfaces,
但本案的核心在于，版權法對于應用程序編程接口是否適用，這是個棘手的問題。
or APIs—the specifications that allow one piece of software to talk to another.
API是允許軟件不同部分進行通信的規范。
Oracle claims that Google used 37 Java APIs in Android without paying, and that the APIs are covered by copyright because they are the creative work of Java's developers.
甲骨文的主張是，谷歌在安卓系統中使用了37個Java API，但沒有支付費用，而且由于這些API是Java開發者們創造性的工作成果，所以它們是受版權保護的。
Google's lawyers have responded by arguing that APIs are akin to words in a poem.
谷歌的律師們回應辯稱API就像詩歌里的詞語。
Copyright can protect the poem itself, but not the underlying elements used to create it.
版權能保護詩歌本身，但不能對用來創造它的基本元素進行保護。
Google—whose chairman once worked for Sun—has also made much of the fact that Java's creators cheered the launch of Android.
谷歌，公司董事會主席曾為Sun效力，也特別強調了Java的創造者們為安卓的發布而歡呼這一事實。
If Oracle prevails, Google may have to reach a settlement with Mr Ellison's firm so it does not have to cut the offending APIs from Android, which would cause huge disruption.
如果甲骨文贏得訴訟，谷歌可能只好與埃里森先生的公司達成和解，這樣才不必從安卓中將侵權的API移除，一旦移除將會引發巨大的混亂。
Oracle wants a financial piece of Android, says Tyler Ochoa, a law professor at Santa Clara University.
甲骨文想從安卓的金錢蛋糕中分得一塊，圣克拉拉大學的法律學教授泰勒·奧喬亞這樣說到。
A victory would also raise further questions about the legal status of APIs.
訴訟的勝利同樣會激起對于API法律地位更深層次的疑問。
Like a baseball game, this saga could have plenty of innings.
如同一場棒球比賽，這場業界傳奇可能要大戰三百回合。
