oracle

Larry Page practices the art of evasion in court

Larry Page was well-schooled by his legal team. But despite the training, which is essential for any CEO of a major company, the Google chieftain didn't exude comfort in the courtroom as Oracle's lead lawyer, David Boies, questioned him.

He was at times evasive, recalling the exchanges on complex technology issues of Microsoft co-founder and CEO Bill Gates with the same David Boies in the U.S. vs. Microsoft antitrust trial in 1998. For example, Gates stated he didn't know what Boies meant when he used terms such as "concerned," "ask" and "… Read more

How Oracle makes sense of Java

Last updated at 1:12 p.m. PT.

SAN FRANCISCO -- While the Java language is free to use and that isn't being contested by either Google or Oracle, one of the key tasks Oracle needs to accomplish if it wants to win its intellectual property lawsuit is prove the value of Java APIs.

See also: Google's Page goes on defensive against Oracle lawyers at trial

Part of that task has fallen on Mark Reinhold, chief architect of the Java platform group at Oracle, who testified as an expert witness during the Oracle-Google trial at the U.S … Read more

Larry Page plays defense in Oracle-Google trial

Last updated: 10 a.m. PT

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google CEO Larry Page returned to court on Wednesday morning to retake the stand as a witness in the legal battle between Google and Oracle over patents and copyrights related to Java.

Yet, as demonstrated during Page's initial testimony on the stand on Tuesday afternoon as well as during the video of his deposition from last August, Page continuously denied much -- if any -- knowledge regarding discussions regarding Java licenses and Google engineers copying Java API codes.

See also: Google's Page claims little knowledge about Android, Java license … Read more

Google: Oracle, Sun blew it on a Java smartphone

Google CEO Larry Page will take the stand again in the company's courtroom tussle with Oracle over whether Android infringes on Java patents and copyrights, but the story line for the search giant is set.

The crux of Google's argument goes like this:

Java code was available to the public free. Google did nothing wrong developing Android. And Oracle is annoyed because it and Sun failed to popularize Java-based smartphones.

Those bullets are designed to counter Oracle's argument that Google ripped off Java and called it Android.

Google's pyrotechnics in its opening statement come as it … Read more

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison: I don't know if Java is free

Among the highlights emanating from U.S. District Court in San Francisco courtroom 8 today was Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's response to a question regarding the status of the Java programming language, which his company acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems in 2010.

Asked by Google's lead attorney, Robert Van Nest, if the Java language is free, Ellison was slow to respond. Judge William Alsup pushed Ellison to answer with a yes or no. As ZDNet reporter Rachel King observed in the courtroom, Ellison resisted and huffed, "I don't know."

In other words, it's … Read more

Larry Ellison takes the stand in Android IP trial

SAN FRANCISCO -- Oracle CEO Larry Ellison defended his company's patent and copyright infringement suit against Google on the second day of the trial here this morning.

Although Google CEO Larry Page was technically called as the first witness by Oracle's legal team, Ellison was the first to take the stand at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco as Page's testimony was presented via video from his deposition last August.

Ellison, wearing a dark suit and red tie, was asked in direct exam by Oracle's star lawyer David Boies about writing Java programs and … Read more

Larry Page appears in Oracle-Google trial

SAN FRANCISCO -- Following Google's opening statements this morning, Google CEO Larry Page was announced as the first witness in the company's patent and copyright trial against Oracle.

Presented at the U.S. District Court here, Page's testimony was actually a video from his deposition on August 24, 2011.

Oracle attorney David Boies focused on a particular presentation on July 25, 2005, listing "Must take license from Sun" as one of the bullet points of the agenda.

The argument back and forth between Boies and Page was to determine whether or not this presentation was … Read more

Oracle gives opening statement in Google case with 91 slides

Oracle kicked off its Java patent and copyright lawsuit against Google and its Android mobile operating system with a 91-page slide deck.

The presentation, which was provided by Oracle as a link ahead of opening statements, outlines the company's lawsuit over Android. Oracle's argument is that Android is a ripoff of Java and it wants compensation and damages.

For those paying attention to Oracle lawsuits -- notably the TomorrowNow case vs. SAP -- the presentation sounds familiar. Oracle goes for the jugular.

Oracle makes extensive use of e-mail excerpts in the presentation and quotes Google executives arguing that … Read more

Copyright conundrum in Oracle-Google case: Is a computer language fair game?

A courtroom in San Francisco is hearing opening testimony this week in a case to decide whether Google's Android operating system violates patents to the Java programming language.

But a bigger headline waits in the wings. At the heart of this complex patent dispute is an arcane issue of law with the potential to reverberate throughout the software development world: can a company legally copyright a computer programming language, not to mention one that has been so integral to the open-source community?

The presiding judge, William Alsup, pushed both companies to clarify their positions on this question, and in … Read more