The once-settled multibillion-dollar software battle between Google and Oracle just got a new lease on life.
An appeals court Tuesday resurrected the copyright case Oracle brought against Google. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Google's use of Oracle's Java development platform to create the Android operating system was not protected under the fair-use provision of copyright law, reversing a 2016 jury verdict.
The case, which began in 2010, now goes back to a U.S. judge in San Francisco for a trial to determine how much compensation Google owes Oracle. Oracle had previously sought $9 billion in damages.
"We are disappointed the court reversed the jury finding that Java is open and free for everyone. This type of ruling will make apps and online services more expensive for users," a Google spokesperson told CNBC.
Oracle did not respond to requests for comment.
The case concerns a dispute between the companies over how much copyright protection should extend to the Java programming language, the software used by Google to design the Android operating system, which runs most of the world's smartphones.
Oracle is seeking royalties for Google's use of some of the Java language, while Google argues that it should be able to use Java without paying, CNBC reported.
When Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, it became the owners of the Java programming language, including the patents, documentation and libraries that went with it. According to press reports, Oracle allowed developers to use this information freely. But after Google built its Android operating system on top of the Java language, Oracle got worried because now its software was helping to power a competing product. Oracle sued Google, claiming copyright and patent violations, but Google argued that it was unaware of any patent infringements. Oracle sought as much as $8.8 billion in damages, but in May 2012, a federal jury sided with Google. In 2014, the Federal Circuit partially reversed the district court ruling, according to Wikipedia, and sent the issue of copyright and fair use back to the district court.
A second jury trial related to the fair use issue still ruled in favor of Google in May 2016, CNBC said.
