Oracle Ignores Judge's Advice in Push for Google Damages

In the ongoing legal battle with Google, Oracle has said that it wants to proceed with a third phase of the trial where it will seek extensive damages over Google's use of the Java programming language on its Android mobile operating system. On Friday, Oracle said it would not settle for "statutory damages"-- i.e. a standard amount -- indicating it would push for more. The day before, Judge William Alsup indicated that the damages phase -- the third and final phase of the trial -- should be eliminated, but by Friday, he changed his tune -- at least slightly.
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In the ongoing legal battle with Google, Oracle has said that it wants to proceed with a third phase of the trial where it will seek extensive damages over Google's use of the Java programming language on its Android mobile operating system.

On Friday, Oracle said it would not settle for "statutory damages"-- i.e., a standard amount -- indicating it would push for more. The day before, Judge William Alsup indicated that the damages phase -- the third and final phase of the trial -- should be eliminated, but by Friday, he changed his tune -- at least slightly.

He said that Oracle has every right to push for additional damages, but he called the company's case an "extremely weak proposition."

On Monday, the jury returned a partial verdict on claims that Google violated Oracle's copyrights in building Android, and the only definitive decision was that Google had lifted nine lines of software code. The trial is now addressing claims that Google violated Oracle's patents, but with only two patent claims in play, this in unlikely to yield a big pay day for Oracle either.

"It would be the height of ridiculousness, if for those nine lines you get hundreds of millions of dollars of profits," Alsup said. "The law can't operate that way."

Judge Alsup said that Oracle has not produced a damages report to back up the claim that it's owed a significant amount of money for Google's use of those nine lines of code.

The heart of Oracle's copyright infringement claims -- that Google infringed on Oracle copyrights in mimicking the overall structure and organization of 37 Java application program interfaces -- still hangs in the balance. The jury was unable to reach a decision on this, and the question will likely be decided with an appeal or a retrial.

Oracle sued Google in August of 2010, claiming the Dalvik virtual machine -- which runs applications in the Android operating system -- violated both copyrights and patents related to the Java programming language. Oracle acquired the rights to Java’s copyrights and patents when it bought Sun Microsystems earlier that same year.

Although the jury agreed that Google infringed the overall structure, sequence, and organization of 37 Java application program interfaces (APIs) -- software that Java programs use to talk to the Java platform that runs on machines -- it was unable to decide whether Google’s use of copyrighted material constituted fair use under the law, which would let Google off the hook. Google believes that the incomplete verdict entitles it to a retrial, citing the Reexamination Clause of the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

While Judge Alsup has hinted that he agrees, he has yet to rule on the matter. As it stands now, the trial will push forward through the current phase, where sides are arguing over two Java-related patents, and into a damages phase. Google has indicated it may file a motion to have the judge rule on damages, rather than the jury, but it has yet to do so.

"Right now we're going to have a jury for phase three unless I see something signed by both sides," Judge Alsup said.

Oracle's celebrity attorney, David Boies, said Oracle is not asking for all of Google's Android profits or even most of them. He said the company is only looking for a portion of the "infringed profits." Both Oracle and Google have to agree on what defines "willful infringement" of the copyrighted works, before Judge Alsup will make an official ruling on the third phase.