Google paying $0 in statutory damages as Oracle plans appeal
SAN FRANCISCO -- In what might have been the shortest hearing yet during Oracle v. Google, legal teams from both sides met on Monday at the U.S. District Court to clean up unresolved financial issues surrounding the case.
There were three major points that were discussed and finalized during the 25-minute session.
First, Oracle filed a stipulation earlier in the day in which Google has been asked to pay $0 in statutory damages (in reference to the nine lines of code in the rangeCheck method and the test files). Oracle has done this to move proceedings along faster as it works on an appeal. Judge William Alsup asked Oracle's lawyers if there is a catch here. There isn't really except that the damages can be discussed again down the line if Oracle wins an appeal.
Secondly, Google has 14 days to submit application for Oracle to pay legal administrative costs. It's possible that Google could also demand that Oracle pay for legal fees (i.e. billable hours for attorneys) too, but we'll find out in the application.
Finally, while there was no damages phase at all throughout this trial, there were lawyers hired by both sides to determine how much this case was worth overall. Payments for these attorneys hired by Oracle and Google have both been finalized, while the court had another attorney on retainer that analyzed the worth of the case from an objective standpoint for free.
Again, the next item we're waiting for is Google's application for legal cost reimbursement from Oracle.
Judge Alsup acknowledged to the court that he didn't know when he might see everyone involved in this case again. Oracle's lead attorney from Morrison and Foerster, Michael Jacobs, said he hopes after the appeal.
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