@AC Re: @Jamie Jones... Wash, rinse, and repeat.
Assume all outcomes weigh the same.
Oracle wins because Google has only a 25% chance when you consider .5 chance of hearing the case and .5 chance of winning. That's 1 in 4.
That said...
I agree the Odds are in Oracle's favor; However, IIRC the less than clean Dalvik build was already part of the case early on and have no real bearing on the facts that the SCOTUS is being asked to hear.
The underlying argument Google is trying to make is that Oracle doesn't have the right to copyright APIs and that it will cause harm if this is allowed to stand. That said, they are also raising the issue of an old case which some courts follow and others do not. (IIRC it was about a spreadsheet compatibility mode) SCOTUS heard that case but split 4 to 4 so no decision was rendered. IMHO its a bit more of a stretch.
This is a bit different and even under the copyright laws, you can still have interoperability under fair use. That said, Google is damned by their own internal emails which show intent to circumvent Sun's initial ME licensing by creating their own VM jump starting it by using Sun's JVM and using the APIs to not pay Oracle ME's licensing fees which are set under FRAND rules.
This is Google's last Hail Mary attempt of not getting forced to payout Billions. (8+ Billion)
BTW, w.r.t odds, you never know how the court will respond. I've personally seen Judges do some pretty dumb things.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
