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Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

Summary: Google and Oracle are now free to do as they please on Halloween.

Rachel King

By for Between the Lines |

Although the two were supposed to kick off their anticipated trial on Halloween, Oracle and Google will have to wait for proceedings to really begin until 2012.

Google petitioned U.S. Federal Judge William Alsup on October 25 to answer a trio of questions, mostly focusing on which of the "literal and non-literal" elements surrounding Android and Java that Oracle is specifically claiming were examples of patent infringement.

Judge Alsup answered the letter on October 26 with the announcement that "the trial will not be in 2011," but when it does happen, the jury trial will be broken down into three phases -- all before the same jury -- as follows:

Phase one. Liability on the copyright claims, including all defenses thereto, will be tried and determined by special verdict before going to Phase Two.

Phase Two. Liability on the patent claims, including all defenses for the jury. The jury will decide these issues before going to Phase Three.

Phase Three. All remaining issues will be tried, including damages and willfulness.

The plaintiff and defendant have until Friday, November 18 to critique to this plan.

Oracle and Google have been in engaged in a heated legal battle over whether or not Android infringes upon Java patents, which are now owned by Oracle since it bought Sun Microsystems last year. However, during hearings in the last few months, Oracle has wavered on which patents it is including in the case.

In September, Judge Alsup called in Oracle and Google's respective CEOs, Larry Ellison and Larry Page, to try to settle the matter before going to trial. The most that came out of that, it would appear, is that Oracle has decided that it wants $1.16 billion in damages.

FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller posits that while Google might have won today's battle, Oracle could still win the war:

The trial plan the judge proposed today favors Google, but the reason the judge decided to do this may be that he still believes (as he indicated on previous occasions) that Google is on the losing track, so he may just want to reduce the degree of certainty on Oracle's part in order to increase the likelihood of a settlement. But just like all of Judge Alsup's previous tactical games failed to bring about a settlement, I'm skeptical it will work this time. I think the most likely course of action is that we will at least see a copyright trial.

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Topics: Oracle, Google

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18 comments
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  • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

    William Alsup want a mutual settlement and wants to avoid the messy third part of the trial - damages and willfulness. This third part is the most vague one and both Oracle and Google will have things to fight on.
    Cloud Pattern
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

    Oh, Mueller. Still trolling hard on Android... Anyway, this gives Google more time to invalidate those fake Java patents. Google wins in this case.

    Oracle wanted a joint trial. Because they did not want to have multiple witnesses attending two different trials. And now i am wondering... How old are those Java patents? aren't they expiring already.

    As for copyright, all Google needs to do is replace the copyright code with new one and they are done.
    tatiGmail
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

      @tatiGmail ok, let's say that the patents are invalid. Great, that would be a good outcome for everyone but Oracle.

      What about the copyright violations, though?
      THUFIR.HAWAT
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

      @tatiGmail what about the copyright infringement? You can't pirate DVD's and then say "oops"...
      THUFIR.HAWAT
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

    Google is THE biggest thief and hypocrite in the tech world... People in the tech circle know that... but the ignorant fan boys and public thinks that google is something 'great'... losers...
    owlnet
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

      @owlnet Google provides a number of great and free services to the average person. what's your beef?
      tatiGmail
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

        @tatiGmail So if I steal from you and use it for charity, you are fine with it ?
        1773
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

        @tatiGmail
        So Microsoft "steals" from someone and then charges for it to their customers, you are fine with it? (i4i)

        Google's supposed theft have never been proven in court. MS fans like to accuse Google even since MS got hit with the i4i case. I presume they are trying to make it seem like Google is equally bad.
        anono
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

      @owlnet you are clueless. Oracle is suing Google on free code Oracle itself makes available on the internet under GPL. Oracle publishes source for all Java tools and run time at openjdk.net and at the site, they encourage all developers to go hack yourself.

      Oracle is the thief here. They are robbing work from open source community developers like Apache and others.

      Apple's silly unlock patent should never be granted as an innovation. It is like patenting Kama Sutra and claiming entire humanity is in violation.
      boby_k
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

        @boby_k
        The key words on your statement are "under GPL". GPL states that the code is free to be used as distributed.
        Google copied the parts it liked and used the java API names to crate a non Java compatible system. That is forbidden by GPL and Copyright law.
        Oracle gives work for free as long as the GPL is followed.
        -------------
        You are also missing the mark on the Apple patent. It is a very specific claim of a finger gesture matched with a graphic underneath that explains the needed motion.
        They were the first to use this specific combination, create a "method" to make it happen and delivered a product. They have a right to a patent.
        BTW.
        Android does not currently infringe on this patent as the underlying graphic does not explain the needed motion.
        gecc1
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

        @boby_k wow, you're so off base as to be comical. If you're unaware of this simple fact, the GPL has different transitive properties from the ASL.

        You can take Apache code, slap and GPL on it and everything's fine.

        You cannot take GPL'ed code and slap the ASL on it (or BSD, etc).

        So, first off, it was Sun, not Oracle which put the Java under the GPL. Anyhow, you can't really "steal" from the open source community, unless you, for example, break the GPL. Who broke the GPL? That would be Google.

        Whom do you think is accused of removing the GPL from source code files?
        THUFIR.HAWAT
        Reply Vote

  • funny

    "but the reason the judge decided to do this may be that he still believes (as he indicated on previous occasions) that Google is on the losing track"
    He stays funny. He should go in politics.
    somereader
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

      @somereader forian guy is insulting the judge, has no clue on judicial system. He is paid writer for Oracle and Microsoft running a false propaganda to mislead public and jury.
      boby_k
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

        @boby_k

        Mueller is the Rob Enderle of 2011. Rob Enderle claimed that "The SCO Group" had evidence that something was supposedly copied, yet when the case went to trial, "The SCO Group" lost very badly over and over again.
        DonRupertBitByte
        Reply Vote

      • For who?

        @boby_k
        Well, he mentions that he will be working for Microsoft.
        Somewhere I red an opinion that he does what he is payed for. Once working for Red Hat.
        But he does not really tell for who he writing it's patent blog.
        His opinions on patents have a striking similarity with those of Microsoft.
        But he could well be really defending Apple. That sees in Android and Google a big enemy. Probably just using Oracle.
        One reason I think this is possible was an blog, I forgot the title, that essentially expressed an intention of Apple (to sue Google). Either he is thinking like Apple, either...
        Yes, why do we bother? Why is he still quoted that much?
        somereader
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

      @somereader let me ask you, when Google removed the GPL boilerplate from .java class files, then copied the files, did that violate copyright? it's a yes/no situation. (For the sake of argument, let's assume that google did in fact remove the boilerplate, as they've not denied that.)
      THUFIR.HAWAT
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Oracle v. Google trial date pushed off to 2012

    http://snipurl.com/2dmzl7
    zhangxiaomei
    Reply Vote

  • I would hate to be on that Jury

    This thing could drag on for a long, long time.
    cornpie
    Reply Vote
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