Google vs. Oracle headed to trial

   Oracle is a Northern California based technology company.  They produce and sell both hardware and software.  Oracle is accusing Google of patent infringement because they believe Google's Android software infringes upon patents that protect Oracle's Java computer language.  The code is originally from Sun Microsystems, which was purchased by Oracle in January of 2010.  Google's defense is that before Sun Microsystems was purchased by Oracle, it was open-sourced software and could be used by anyone.  The two sides recently attempted to settle the difference outside of court with a mutual agreement.  However, they were unable to do so and thus will be heading to court in the next few weeks.  Google offered Oracle 3 million dollars as well as a minuscule share of Android, however Oracle declined.
    While reading this article, a few things came to mind.  The first was that I can't understand how there is so much grey area with these laws.  We have learned a lot about many different IP protection laws, although we have admittedly only scratched the surface.  There are far more details in the laws that I don't know but I do know that it seems like these companies are constantly involved in some form of dispute or in court.  One would think that these multi-million dollar companies would have people who know the law like the back of their hand. Because of this, it seems like in many cases a company just jumps on the opportunity to sue, knowing full well that the other company would prefer to avoid court and will end up settling.  I'm not claiming this is always true but I can't imagine all these cases aren't black and white.
     Also, it blows my mind how much money these companies must spend year after year on court cases.  Not only does this mean actually court cases, lawyer fees, settlements that don't make it to court, and time wasted, it also include any money they end of losing in court and any type of damages they are liable for.  It must cost them a fortune.

Article: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/settlement-talks-fail-in-google-vs-oracle-patent-case/932066/2