The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is charging that Oracle has chosen to willfully disregard the licensing terms for its Java technology, and says it intends to vote against the approval of Java 7--the next major iteration of the Java programming language--should Oracle continue to impose restrictions on open-source Java use. In addition, ASF also is threatening to quit its membership of the Java Community Process Executive Committee (JCP EC), and calling on other members of the JCP EC to also cast a vote against Java 7.

At the heart of the matter is what ASF sees as Oracle favoring its own OpenJDK Java implementation at the expense of its own Apache Harmony. To be sure, the conflict predates Oracle's acquisition of Sun. However, the battle between Oracle and ASF bears an eerie resonance with the other battle being fought between Oracle and Google, in which Oracle alleges Google has copied parts of its Java code for use in the Android operating system.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at ZDNet
- check out this article at Ars Technica