Google Fined $5 Million for Linux Patent Infringement

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$5 million may be small change for Google, but the repercussions of this lawsuit might result in something more serious for Google and the Android ecosystem. Google–along with other companies–has been fined for allegedly infringing on Linux intellectual property. Is Android next?

We earlier wrote about how intellectual property experts view Android’s re-purposing of Linux code in its core as a potential litigation-magnet. It seems their analysis has merit, after all. A lawsuit filed by Bedrock Computer Technologies claimed that Google, Amazon, Softlayer, PayPal, AOL and Yahoo! infringed on its patent covering “methods and apparatus for information storage and retrieval using a hashing technique with external chaining and on-the-fly removal of expired data.”

According to Bedrock, Google’s use of the Linux kernel in its server farms infringes on several patents that they hold. A Texas court agrees and has fined Google the $5 million sum.

It doesn’t stop there, as this court case sets a precedent for what can be a serious roadblock for Google and Android. Anyone who holds intellectual property rights (copyright or copyleft) over the Linux kernel might demand that Google pay licensing fees for the use of their IP. And this includes Android smartphone manufacturers, Android application developers, and pretty much anyone else involved in Android.

The issue stems from “copyleft,” as the Linux code is meant to be distributed and redistributed freely, as long as it comes with the same license. This will mean that Google will either have to share the Android code in its entirety or shift from the Bionic library to another one (possibly glibc) in order to mitigate the potential intellectual property issues.