Source code like this doesn’t just have no value for Google. It has negative value. It’s a massive liability.
That’s why big cos simply bury source code instead of releasing it in the open.
You do not need revenue to be liable though.
The plaintiff would have to show actual financial loss due to the infringement. In the case of the pebble assets, that seems exceedingly unlikely.
Generously assume for the sake of argument that the entire codebase is a straight up copy of Samsung and Apple’s IP. What damages have been caused by that IP sitting dormant on Google’s hard drives for the past six years?
... nope. Not even in the US, where "3 years" as you claim is from the possible discovery date, not the infrigment date (https://www.michaelbest.com/Newsroom/340003/US-Supreme-Court...), and this would probably only accrue when the source code is released (as it can be argued that it would be difficult to see a more subtle copyright infrigment on object code).
Also statutory damages exists, so even for no revenue there is a reasonable possibility that they will be sued for that alone (similar to how game and music piracy lawsuits work).
> and 6 years for patents
Other jurisdictions like Germany (no limits) exists.
Converting a zero-value IP into low impact positive PR has business value. Making MS-DOS sources public falls in the same bucket.
“PebbleOS took dozens of engineers working over 4 years to build, alongside our fantastic product and QA teams. Reproducing that for new hardware would take a long time.” [0]
The lackluster value and sales of Google hardware is no master plan, it's a simple incompetency.