that finding overturned. In 2009, the company paid more than $7 billion for Sun Microsystems, which gave it ownership of Java's patents and copyrights. The company's top brass very much believes that the intellectual property should entitle it to serious compensation from Google, and it initiated discussions with the search giant shortly after the purchase, ultimately filing suit in 2010. The company's initial damage demands went up to $6 billion, but that was whittled way down by the judge.

Oracle kicks off its legal arguments with the tale of a mythical writer, Ann Droid (get it?):

Ann Droid wants to publish a bestseller. So she sits down with an advance copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—the fifth book—and proceeds to transcribe. She verbatim copies all themismanagement team at Oracle can not sue. Would using Scala avoid this problem?

Here's a little parable: A very old and evil troll named Debacle once lived in a database on a road in a remote forest. He grew rich off of the money he extorted from passing travelers. One day he captured a traveler who told him that if he didn't rob him and instead paid him, he would tell him where the deed was hidden for a major bridge over a valley. He told the troll he could grow even richer once he owned the bridge, because he could extort money from the much larger number of travelers who flooded daily into the city on the other side.

The troll took him up on the deal, and rubbed