oracle-google

Oracle recalls Google engineer in trial's patent phase

SAN FRANCISCO--After previously testifying in the copyrights phase of Oracle v. Google in April, Google engineer Tim Lindholm was recalled to the stand at the U.S. District Court of Northern California here this morning as Oracle's first witness in phase two of the trial covering patent infringement.

Representing Oracle, Fred Norton of Boies, Schiller & Flexner repeatedly asked Lindholm questions along the lines of whether he was the only person responsible for work on Java virtual machines and related innovations, following up with the implication that Lindholm certainly couldn't have been the only one. Lindholm always concurred … Read more

Legal experts decipher Oracle-Google verdict

The fact that a jury couldn't make up its mind about a key question in Oracle's copyright-infringement case against Google could turn out to be good news for Google and the Android development community, according to legal experts.

A unanimous jury found that Google infringed on Oracle's 37 Java APIs, but they could not decide whether Google had made "fair use" of the infringing material in its Android mobile platform. As a result, the odds of a billion-dollar payday in Oracle's future -- at least in the near term -- are relatively low and … Read more

Oracle gets a chance to rewrite software law

Every now and again, a court case comes along that stands to rewrite the legal rules of the computing industry -- and we might just be at such a juncture right now.

Oracle's suit against Google over Java and Android could be one such case. It's putting to the test the notion that application programming interfaces -- APIs -- can be copyrighted.

In a partial verdict today, a jury gave Oracle a hard-fought "yes" when U.S. District Judge William Alsup asked it, "As to the compilable code for the 37 Java API packages in … Read more

Oracle v. Google jury returns partial verdict, favoring Oracle

SAN FRANCISCO -- The jury in the Oracle v. Google trial rendered a partial verdict, favoring Oracle, in the copyright phase of the trial. Yet a question the jury failed to decide prompted Google to call for a mistrial, and could sharply limit damages even if the verdict stands.

The five male and seven female jurors failed to deliver unanimous answers to four detailed questions (see below) Judge William Alsup provided them prior to deliberations. The questions aimed to determine whether Google's Android mobile platform infringed on part of the Java programming language that Oracle acquired from Sun … Read more

No partial verdict in Oracle-Google copyright case after all

SAN FRANCISCO -- This afternoon, just before going home for the weekend, the jury almost came back with a partial verdict in the copyright phase of Oracle v. Google at the U.S. District Court here.

However, we won't know what they're thinking until at least Monday.

The jury sent a note to Judge William Alsup just after noon Pacific Time, informing the court that it had come to a unanimous decision on all questions but one -- on which the jury said it was at an "impasse." They were apparently at an impasse on one … Read more

Oracle-Google: Prospect of a partial verdict or mistrial looms

SAN FRANCISCO -- "Hope for the best, plan for the worst." That's where Judge William Alsup says we are while we wait for a verdict on the copyrights segment of Oracle v. Google at the U.S. District Court this morning.

Yesterday afternoon, the jury returned with the eighth note issued during the deliberation period, which asked, "What happens if we can't reach a unanimous decision and people are not budging?"

To recall, the jury began deliberating on Monday afternoon after lawyers from both Oracle and Google offered their closing statements for … Read more

Oracle tries to rewrite history for Sun and alter Java's future

During testimony at the Oracle v. Google trial last week, former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz and co-founder and Chairman Scott McNealy gave conflicting views. Schwartz maintained that as long as Google's Android mobile platform didn't call itself Java or use any of the branding, it was in the clear. McNealy disagreed.

Oracle-Google trial puts ex-Sun execs on opposite sides

Full coverage: Oracle v. Google lawsuit

Given that Sun didn't take Google to court, Schwartz, who was CEO from 2006 until 2010 when Oracle took over the company, apparently convinced McNealy and the board of directors … Read more

Oracle, Google lawyers spar over jury instructions

SAN FRANCISCO -- The jury in the Oracle-Google case continues to deliberate at the U.S. District Court over the first phase of the trial concerning copyright infringement.

The jury began deliberating on Monday afternoon after lawyers from both Oracle and Google offered their closing statements for the first segment of this trial.

As is customary in complex cases, the jury returned a few questions to Judge William Alsup, who read them in the courtroom for both legal teams and the public on Tuesday morning. But also customary was that there were disagreements from both sides on how to respond … Read more

Google sums up its Java case: 'There was no copying'

SAN FRANCISCO -- After Oracle made its closing statements on Monday morning at the U.S. District Court, Google's Robert Van Nest stepped up to the plate, defending Android's implementation of the 37 Java APIs at question in this lawsuit.

Van Nest's core defense rested on positioning this as a case of fair use, asserting that Android is not a copy of Java 5.0 SE but rather a "substantially" different work with different success in the market.

"It's a whole platform that didn't exist before and transformed the use of Java … Read more

Judge Alsup rejects Oracle patent reinstatement

As part of its suit against Google, Oracle accused the search giant of violating seven patents covering Java technology with its Android platform. Five of the patents were dropped from the case upon reexamination by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO).

On April 22, patent No. 5,966,702 was validated by the USPTO and Oracle requested that it be allowed into the case against Google.

Full coverage: Oracle v. Google

Judge William Alsup informed the dueling parties on Wednesday evening that he rejected Oracle's request on the basis that "Oracle offered to dismiss … Read more