Oracle JDK 17 and later are offered under a free-to-use license that lasts right up until one 12 months just after the next LTS launch. After that time, the Oracle JDK will become under OTN license. To sum it up, it in essence references a field of the object instance https://cruzvvsnk.blogocial.com/the-basic-principles-of-free-this-jav-67999936