Google asks court to sanction Oracle for revealing details of Apple deal
Illustrating how much it values confidential business deals, Google last week renewed its court request to sanction Oracle for revealing that the internet giant paid $1 billion to Apple to be the default search engine on iPhone in 2014.
The revelation came during the epic court battle between Google and Oracle over Oracle's copyright claims to Java APIs. Google won that case -- and potentially avoided paying billions to Oracle. However, its new court request (flagged here by Fortune) says both Google and Apple were "harmed by Oracle's counsel's disclosure regarding the terms of a significant and confidential commercial agreement".
Google handed over the confidential information under a protective order, which, as Google wrote, is used "to assure that sensitive, highly confidential information produced in discovery remains confidential and does not end up as headline news".
Google is specifically asking for a finding of civil contempt, as well as the imposition of sanctions against Oracle and Annette Hurst, the attorney who disclosed the price Google paid. Those sanctions, Google said, should include an award of Google's attorneys' fees.
Meanwhile, the Google vs Oracle saga will continue, as Oracle is appealing the May ruling in the Java API case.