Question: what would be the legal ramifications of forking Java, but not calling it Java?

I understand that Oracle owns the trademark and there are patent issues. Still, an alternative pure open source platform named wombat or whatever might end up being necessary.

I understand that Oracle would like to monetize Java but there is that "killing the goose that laid the golden egg" metaphor becoming real life :-)

Ideas?

Comments

  1. Garg Unzola11:04 PM

    Ask Microsoft. They seem to be doing fine after doing exactly that and calling it C#.

    I think Java's future is probably most viable as a dual license: a fork that has an open source prong and a big corporate prong, similar to Fedora versus Red Hat. Since Java's takeover by Oracle, they've begun cooking many golden geese. There is already an open source Java alternative, so perhaps it would become more prominent. Unless Oracle sends the big bad lawyers after them.

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  2. Levi3:57 PM

    Don't ask Microsoft, ask Google. They have an alternative implementation of the Java language, called Dalvik, that is the basis of the Android platform. They are currently being sued by Oracle over it.

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