43 instances where Google has copied Java code without proper permissions in the latest versions of the Android operating system have been uncovered by an intellectual property expert. Google is currently involved in a legal case with Oracle over Java patents and copyright material in Android and this discovery might put Google in trouble. Florian Mueller, founder of NoSoftwarePatents campaign believes that this discovery will prove to be helpful for Oracle but dreadful for Google.

On closer examination of the Android code, Mueller discovered six files that Oracle indicated in its complaint and another additional file too which are extremely identical to the Java files. Mueller has also been able to identify 37 files that are the propriety of Sun Microsystems in the Android code. Under the Apache license, Google has been licensing Android to users. Mueller states that such a license change isn’t allowed even if Oracle/Sun developed the file available under the GPL. Mueller has also been able to use a decompiler to identify and observe minor differences between the code that Google uses and the original Java code. On using a Java decompiler, Mueller was able to identify similar differences in the Java code too.

Ed Burnette, developer for ZDnet protests that the codes that have been detected by Mueller have been deleted and they wouldn’t be shipped in devices either. He adds that the identified codes are test codes and they are not shipped with the product. Burnette adds that the files were also deleted from Android and the remainder files used for native code audio drivers for a kind of chip set, are located in a directory. He believes that those codes should be deleted as they might have been uploaded on Android by mistake.

Android devices containing the code of the test tree that are codes related to security and the remainder codes have been shipped, according to Mueller. He reveals that the files aren’t present currently in the Android code tree. However, for two versions that make up for more than half of the phones, these files have been used. You can’t get an infringement undone by eliminating it from certain files, if it is looked from a legal perspective. This can be done only to avoid any additional damage. With claims that Google’s Android operating system uses Java copyrights that were acquired by Oracle on purchasing Sun, Oracle has filed a lawsuit against Google.

This lawsuit and the accusations have been called baseless by Google representatives. Google will be required to pay Oracle a licensing fee for each handset that has made use of Android, if it is found guilty of infringement. The attractive quotient of Android as a free operating system will be diminished even if Google passes on the licensing fee cost to device vendors. Many companies have attacked Android following its stupendous popularity. Several other lawsuits like Apple’s suit against HTC, Microsoft’s suit against Motorola and Gemalto’s suit against Google, Motorola, HTC and Samsung are all related to Android.