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Oracle's Ellison Takes on Google's Page in Courtroom Showdown

Larry Ellison and Larry Page both took the stand in a jury trial to determine the validity of Oracle's claim that Google stole Java software to build its Android operating system.

April 18, 2012

It was a rare courtroom showdown between high-profile tech CEOs on Tuesday as Oracle's Larry Ellison and Google's Larry Page both gave testimony on the second day of a jury trial in San Francisco to determine the validity of Oracle's claim that Google stole Oracle software to build its Android operating system.

Ellison, 67, took the stand in the morning, telling the packed federal courtroom that Google failed to take one of three types of Java licenses despite being instructed to do so when the search giant was using Java software to build Android. Google has countered by arguing that it only used open-source portions of Java which it claims can't be copyrighted and don't require licensing.

Oracle acquired the Java software platform when it bought Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion in January 2010 and filed suit against Google in August 2010. Google acquired Android, Inc. in August 2005.

"Just because something is open-source doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with it," Ellison said in testimony, according to Reuters.

Oracle lawyer David Boies hammered that point home in his cross-examination of Page, 39. In one exchange between the two related by Computerworld, Boies and Page battled over the meaning of the phrase "must take a license from Sun" in a document that had been produced by Google's Android team led by Andy Rubin. Page claimed that the license requirement was "not consistent with my understanding of Java," while a puzzled Boies appeared to score points with barely restrained mockery of Page's refusal to admit the meaning of the clear wording in the document.

"I don't recall asking anyone that," Page said in response to Boies question as to whether he had ever asked if Java code had been copied in the development of Android.

Google's cross-examination of Ellison centered around Google's claim that Oracle was only attacking Android because it had once sought to build its own smartphone product and failed.

Under questioning from Google's lawyers, Ellison admitted that his company had at one time considered buying either BlackBerry maker Research in Motion or Palm, which was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard, but decided against seeking a deal for either company.

"We explored the idea [of make an Oracle phone] and decided it would be a bad idea," Ellison said, claiming that his company decided RIM was too pricey, Palm was on the decline, and an in-house solution was untenable due to Oracle's lack of expertise in the mobile phone market.

"The idea was building the smartphone using Java FX and then charge carriers like Verizon for it," he told the court.

Ellison said he had never approached Google about partnering on smartphone software but did say he spoke with Page and Google's then-CEO Eric Schmidt in 2010 about integrating a more recent edition of Java in Android to make it "more compatible with industry standards."