Microsoft and Oracle have no great love for each other. The two tech companies have often been at odds with each other on many topics. However, it sounds like in one particular case, Microsoft may have the attitude of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" with Oracle.
Reuters reports that this week, Microsoft told U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that it would file a "friend of the court brief" and that it would side with Oracle in its current lawsuit against Google. Oracle legal battle with Google concerns the Java programming language, which Oracle claims Google is using in its Android OS without Oracle"s permission.
So far, the courts have ruled in Google"s favor, with a judge deciding in 2012 that Oracle could not claim the copyrights to much of the Java language; Oracle is now appealing that decision.
It"s not currently known what Microsoft will say to defend Oracle in its legal brief. Microsoft has been going after Android by signing agreements with most of the companies that have made Android smartphones and tablets, with the company claiming that those products use patents that are owned by Microsoft. Microsoft gets a portion of the sales of each of the devices under its various Android agreements.
Source: Reuters | Image via Oracle