Google is once again facing allegations that it copied other people’s code on Android. Purdue University sued Google over allegations that the company is knowingly infringing a patent to detect power management errors in the code. The internet giant reportedly saw an article about Professor Y. Charlie Hu’s research on the subject in 2012 and incorporated infringing code related to Android Lint, a bug-catching tool in what would become the Android Studio development kit.
The USPTO granted the patent in August 2019. Purdue said it notified Google of the alleged infringement in August 2021, but that Google continued to embed the contested code in Android Studio until this month. The school is seeking unspecified “past and future” damages from Google.
In a statement, Google told Ploonge that it is still looking into the process, but that it will “vigorately defend itself” and “independently develop[s]” products. We asked Purdue for a comment, but the university has already said Reuters this believed Google infringed more patents and would add them to the lawsuit if the company didn’t negotiate the licenses.
School technology patent lawsuits are not new. Apple, for example, has been asked more than once to pay the University of Wisconsin for alleged infringements. This case may be more serious than some, however. Android Studio is a staple of Android app development – if Purdue can prove a breach in the first place, it can argue that a significant part of the Android app ecosystem is built around copied technology.
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